Making aburaage

Since I have started at Kazama Tofu-ten, I have been helping mostly with aburaage. It is not easy to make them! Like tofu they are made from soy beans, but also deep-fried. Once cooled down, air is blown into them and they are usually cut into halves. I help with that, so I get to do the easier part. Here are photos of fried aburaage: 

I will explain the process of making aburaage. First "dough" ("shinko") is made and later fried. 

1. Soy beans are soaked in water the day before. 

2. Next morning softened beans are mashed/grinded in grinder.

3. The paste becomes syrupy and thick and is called "go" (呉).

4. Go paste is boiled in boiler for 5 minutes. 

5. Soy milk (豆乳, tounyuu) and okara are extracted from boiled go. In the past it was done manually using cloths to squeeze the milk out.

6. Soy milk is poured into a big metal cask.

7. Bittern ("nigari") is mixed gradually into soy milk. "Nigari" is a concentrated solution of 
salts, especially magnesium chloride, and is used in tofu production.

8. Only liquid is removed to obtain gritty and solid tofu form.

9. Solidified portion of tofu is then poured into wooden boxes.

10. Stone weight is put on top to drain excess liquid.

11. Once enough liquid has drained, tofu is put into water tank.

12. It is cut into big blocks and then sliced by slicer.

13. These slices are called "shinko" and are placed on bamboo mats.

14. Several mats are put together and again under stone weight for two hours.

15. When drained, they are ready for frying!