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Make your own Chickpea flour Tofu. 10 min Non soy tofu made with Chickpea flour or Besan / gram flour. Easy Homemade Burmese tofu. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Tofu Nut-free Recipe. Pin this post!  Jump to Recipe Â
Burmese (chickpea) tofu is made by cooking split pea flour or chickpea flour and water batter until it thickens and can set. One of the other methods is to soak the split chickpeas, blend and use that batter. I make my chickpea tofu with chickpea flour and with less liquid so it is a sturdier, and quick version of Burmese tofu. This recipe makes about 2.5 to 3 cups cubed tofu which can be stored for a few days refrigerated.
The tofu can also be made with Chickpea flour (which is ground garbanzo beans (white chickpeas), pure besan / gram flour (which is flour of brown chickpeas (kala chana) or split brown chickpeas (chana dal)), or mixed flour besan which can have 2 different types of chickpea / split pea flour, or yellow split pea flour. Each of the flours need different amounts of liquid. Besan (gram flour) is also ground finer than white chickpea flour. Because of these differences, chickpea flour generally makes a thicker batter and needs more water to achieve the similar consistency as besan batter if the recipe was written with besan. Besan will need less liquid to make an equally sturdy tofu as Chickpea flour tofu. The tofu recipe below made with any of the flours, without adjusting the recipe will still be usable wherever needed. Depending on the flour used, the resulting tofu cubes might be soft or firm. Use less water for firmer and more water for softer chickpea tofu.Â
Chickpea flour is mixed with water to form a smooth batter. The batter thickens into a thick custard like consistency which sets and can be easily sliced. I use these properties of chickpea flour in many recipes, like this nut-free Nacho cheese slice, these chickpea flour pasta noodles and more.Â
This recipe is adapted from the spiced chickpea tofu in my book. You can use it as a substitute for soy tofu in many recipes. It does well in curries, tossed in dressing, in wraps, salads, also makes a great morning scramble, or egg salad!, breaded tofu etc. It also sticks to the pan like regular tofu while stir frying, if your pan isnt good ;).Â
Made these Buffalo Tofu Wraps with Chickpea flour tofu tossed in buffalo hot sauce.Â
More chickpea flour recipes from the blog
- Chickpea flour Pancakes – Indian Chilla
- Veggies in Chickpea flour Sauce- Sindhi Kadhi
- Besan Burfi – Chickpea flour fudge with condensed non dairy milk
- Fluffy chickpea flour Omelet
This tofu might not absorb marinades as quickly. So I generally prefer to flavor the tofu itself while making it. Â Mix in herbs, spices and flavors into the batter before cooking it. That way the tofu is already infused with a profile depending on where you are using it. I usually add garam masala and cayenne when using in curries and some soy sauce and lemon when adding to asian fusion, some italian herb blend for other uses like a mashed up marinated tofu salad.Â
Blend the chickpea flour water and spices into a smooth batter. Cook over medium heat. the batter will start to get lumpy after a minute or so.
Keep stirring frequently. The batter will eventually thicken evenly and become custard like.Â
Cook for another 2 minutes so the chickpea flour is cooked through. You can taste the mix carefully at this point to ensure that the chickpea flour doesnt taste raw and adjust salt if needed. the mixture will also start to come away from the pan.Â
Transfer the custard to a parchment lined container. Cool for 10 minutes then refrigerate for about an hour.
Remove from parchment, cube and use.Â
Keep refrigerated for upto 4 days.Â
Chickpea Flour Tofu Recipe
Ingredients Â
- 1 cup chickpea flour/ garbanzo bean flour, , or if using besan, use 1 1/4 cup besan/ gram flour
- 1/2-3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric, optional, for color
- 1/4 tsp cumin or garam masala, optional
- 1 3/4 cup water
InstructionsÂ
- Grease a bread pan or line with parchment and keep ready. (9 by 5 rectangle or any similar rectangle or smaller square pan).
- In a bowl whisk all the ingredients under chickpea tofu until there are no lumps, or use a blender..(or you can add the ingredients directly to the pan and whisk to combine). I use a blender for quick and smooth batter.
- Pour the chickpea flour mixture into a deep saucepan. Cook over medium heat. Stir continuously. The mixture will start to get lumpy as the pan heats up (see video) and then thicken evenly and considerably. 4 to 5 mins.
- Once the mixture is evenly thick and stiff, keep cooking for another 2 minutes so the chickpea flour gets cooked through. Also tap the spoon or spatula to drop the mixture stuck to it to the pan. If the mixture is starting to brown, reduce the heat to medium low. You can taste test the mixture at this point carefully, to ensure that there is no raw chickpea flour flavor and adjust salt if needed.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf pan or parchment and even it out using a spatula or another parchment if needed. Let it cool, then refrigerate for atleast an hour to set.
- Remove the set slab from the pan. Slice into cubes. Store in an airtight container refrigerated for upto 4 days. The tofu can leak some moisture while it sits. drain and use.
Video
Notes
Add nutritional yeast for cheesy flavor or other herbs and flavors of choice.  To use in stir fries or curries: Crisp in a tsp of oil until golden on some edges. (see this recipe).  Nutrition is for 1 serve
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Great recipe but what does one serving mean? How many cubes of tofu make one serving? Thanks!
It depends on the size of the tofu cubes.
I’ve tried to make this twice now and it will not get firm enough to pan fry. I tried making it with 1 cup flour, 2.5 cups water, and I boiled it for a full 15 minutes, but when I went to fry it in the pan it just turned into a goopy, soupy mess. Wasn’t really that firm in the container either. Why is this not working?????
That’s too much water. My recipe uses 1.75 cups. For firmer tofu use 1.5 cups water for 1 cup chickpea flour.
More water means more soft tofu and that won’t hold up for pan fryj g
Sounds amazing. Would this still work with pre-roasted chickpea flour? I’ve noticed roasting the flour lightly before making egg substitute completely removed the bitter aftertaste from my baking, but for this recipe I’m worried it would affect how the tofu sets.
Yes, it should still work.
Great recipe! Only thing is I added a little more water to make it one cup and it worked out perfectly. I seasoned mine with some smoked paprika and seasoning salt. Mmm yummy!
awesome! thank you!
After making this…Can it be used just like tofu? Marinated, air fried, scrambled, etc?
Yes. It won’t marinate as well.
I have a question for you because this sounds AMAZING. We skip Soy Tofu because of issues with the effects on the thyroid, but we have loved cooking with it before it was an issue.
Every time I try a recipe with chickpea flour, there is a bitter, unpleasant taste that is difficult to get past. Is it the flour we are getting? Is it how we are cooking it?
It is so odd because we LOVE chickpeas and I never have this problem in recipes using them.
Any advice? I really would love to try this but hesitate to waste more flour and face more bitter disappointment (literally).
Thanks in advance!
It’s the flour. You have to cook that bitterness out by cooking it long enough. There will still be a slight aftertaste. It also could be that you are detecting it more. You can use other flours such as split pea flour or moong dal
Flour. Or use cooked chickpeas to make it as well.
Can you also use other flours such as soy flour with this recipe. I want to make a high protein flour
You’d have to alter the method of making the tofu. Check out Mary’s test kitchen on YouTube. She has a bunch of high protein tofu options with various methods to cook them.
Thank you for this recipe. It is easy and comes out perfectly. Just yesterday I was thinking that perhaps I eat too much soy and, thanks to you, I had chickpea cubes for breakfast. 😊
yay!
Thank you so much for sharing this post and recipe. I had no idea it would be so easy to make! I love your idea of adding garam masala to the batter before it sets.
yay! don’t forget to rate! 🙂
I’ve made this recipe multiple times already! I ground up yellow split peas into a flour and then followed the recipe. Tastes great with such a nice texture! I also baked the tofu for 10-15 minutes at medium high heat, that was also very nice.
Sounds delish!
This came out perfectly! Very tasty. I can’t wait to play around with seasonings and other flavors.
Thank you for another great recipe! 😊
I’m excited for you. let me know your favs