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    Home » Easy Vegan Recipes » Snacks and Sides

    Burmese tofu – soy free chickpea tofu from Myanmar

    17 July, 2014 by Kip 11 Comments

    More akin to polenta than tofu, Burmese tofu is a naturally vegan, sturdy non-coagulated cousin of soya tofu that is made from gram (besan) flour. This dish originated from the Shan state of Myanmar and is popular throughout the country today. This yellow tofu can be made with or without turmeric, and in this recipe is left to cool and set into a block.

    Use the tofu in salads, either as is or deep fried. When fried, it is an excellent bar type snack with a sweet and sour tamarind dipping sauce. Right off the hob, while still hot, the silky mixture can be made into a thick noodle soup (my favourite breakfast in the Thai-Shan town of Mae Hong Son).

    Burmese Tofu

    The difference between gram flour and chickpea flour

    Confusion is in abundance with regards to the various forms of chickpea flour. This recipe utilises gram flour, also known as besan, which is comprised of finely ground chana dal. Chana dal are hulled and split kala chana, also known as Bengal gram. Kala chana are different than the chickpea variety that probably originated in the Middle East, the type we use to make hummus or that are otherwise known as garbanzo beans.

    So, in short, the chickpea flour used to make dishes like farinata and socca is not the same as the gram flour in this recipe. Both are technically made from chickpeas, only from different varieties. This might seem confusing given how little categorical consistency even well known chefs maintain (ditto Western cookbook authors) when discussing recipes containing chickpea flour. If food authorities are mixing this up, it is no surprise that most English food and recipe website resources do the same.

    Burmese tofu

    Shan Burmese Chickpea (chana dal) tofu from Myanmar

    Shan tofu
    Remember that chickpea flour and gram (also called besan) flour are not the same product. Chickpea flour is made from ground chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans), while gram flour is made from finely ground chana dal. Use gram flour that is comprised of 100% chana dal for best results. The variation in water quantity is down to personal preference. Less will simply result in a firmer tofu.
    Ingredients
    • 115 grams besan/gram flour
    • 8 grams (1 teaspoon) salt
    • ⅛-¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
    • ⅛ teaspoon MSG (optional)
    • 5 millilitres (1 teaspoon) vegetable or peanut oil, plus extra to grease dish
    • 600-700 millilitres water, divided
    Directions/Method
    1. Grease a small rectangular heat proof dish.
    2. Whisk the flour, salt, MSG, and turmeric together in a medium sized bowl. Add 300 millilitres of the water as well as the oil and whisk into a uniform slurry. Try to get as many lumps out as possible, but a few baby lumps are fine.
    3. Bring the remaining 300-400 millilitres of water to the boil in a medium saucepan and pour the flour slurry in, whisking the whole time. Continue to whisk for about a minute before turning the heat down to medium. At this point the mixture will thicken considerably. You may wish to switch to a wooden spoon or a silicone spatula for stirring.
    4. Keep stirring for between 5-7 minutes. The contents of the saucepan will have a consistency not dissimilar to cooked polenta and will develop a slight sheen. Pour into the greased pan and leave to cool for 1 hour before refrigerating.
    5. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least one hour before use, but overnight will yield the most firm texture.
    • Author: Kip Dorrell
    • Serves: 2-3 in a salad
    • Cuisine: Burmese

    More Snacks and Sides

    • Thai fried tofu with sweet peanut dipping sauce
    • Sago and coconut pancakes with melted palm sugar
    • Horseradish Mashed Potatoes
    • Thai Herbal Fried Peanuts (Tua Tod Samun Prai )

    Reader Interactions

    I reserve the right to improve any malicious and trollish comments left below. Please do not comment about nonvegan products or activities.

    Comments

    1. Jess Fox

      July 18, 2014 at 4:55 pm

      Oh, I like the sound of this! I need to experiment! Cheers Kip! 🙂 x

      Reply
    2. Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours

      July 19, 2014 at 10:56 pm

      This has been on my to cook list for about 5 years. Once I have finished all my outstanding commissions it is the first things I shall be making.

      Reply
    3. Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours

      July 21, 2014 at 1:27 pm

      This has been on my to cook list for about 5 years. Once I have finished all my outstanding commissions it is the first things I shall be making.

      Reply
    4. Jess Fox

      July 21, 2014 at 1:28 pm

      Oh, I like the sound of this! I need to experiment! Cheers Kip! x

      Reply
    5. Laughfrodisiac

      July 27, 2014 at 1:18 am

      I can't wait to make this! But first I want you to make it for me. Fiance bought this for me at the market in...Inle Lake? when we were in Burma but then we got sick before we could eat it. We actually left it in the fridge in that hotel room...I feel bad for whoever found it when we could finally leave 5 days later...

      Reply
    6. 4aux4oodie

      September 02, 2014 at 5:52 am

      This is one of the most exciting recipes I've seen in a long time. I'm trying this within the next week or so. Thank you so much for sharing!!!

      Reply
      • Kip

        September 02, 2014 at 1:06 pm

        Thanks! Let me know how it works out and what you do with it.

        Reply
    7. John

      June 20, 2017 at 5:00 am

      I love this recipe! I have added a few more spices to add some more kick to it since I prefer things spicy but the overall consensus has been nothing but positive! My girlfriends mom is sensitive to soy and gluten so this is the perfect base for my tohu turkey during the holidays. Thank you for sharing such a great addition to any vegans homemade ingredient arsenal.

      Reply
      • Kip

        June 20, 2017 at 10:33 am

        Glad you like it and thank you for the feedback!

        Reply
    8. Barbara

      March 22, 2020 at 8:09 am

      I really loved this dish when I was in Burma, and was very excited to find it. However, I made it according to the recipe and it was so terrible that I had to throw the whole lot in the garden. The texture was like smooth mashed potato and the taste was nasty and bitter. What has gone wrong?

      Reply
      • Kip

        March 27, 2020 at 3:36 pm

        Hi Barbara,
        I'm so sorry the recipe didn't work. Thank you for letting me know. I will make the recipe again and report back...

        Update: I tried the recipe again and it worked fine (I made it with both 100ml less water and with the original 700ml). That yours was so thin and bitter indicates it wasn't cooked enough (gram flour is disgusting and bitter when undercooked). But also, it is a pourable batter before it firms up upon cooling.

        Reply
    9. I reserve the right to improve malicious and trollish comments.

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    Name's Kip. Some things about me: vegan, Thai food enthusiast, comfortably chaotic and disorganised, information lover, Londoner, cookbook collector, clumsy AF, rarely takes a serious photo, has never been on a diet. This is not a wellness blog.

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