Did you know that you can make tofu out of black beans? By extracting and heating the protein in legumes, you can change the protein bonds, causing them to firm up. Most of us have already experienced this process before when boiling an egg, turning the white from translucent to firm.
A quick word of caution. Homemade hemp seed tofu is not quite like soybean tofu. It makes a much denser and pastier tofu with a bitter flavour. Using the right amount of vinegar and seasoning it well before serving helps with the bitterness, but the texture is still very much a work in progress. Nonetheless, this tofu is an expression of what is possible with locally grown foods and takes some pressure of the much overused soybean.
This is my version of Jamie Oliver’s Super Green Spaghetti. When I cooked alongside him during a TikTok Live Event, he challenged me to create a plant-based version of his recipe.
Did you know you can use aquafaba (the cooking water left in a tin of chickpeas) just like egg whites? Mix it until stiff, fold in some melted chocolate and, voilà, you’ve got a super quick, plant-based mousse.