Monday, we were thrilled to have food writer, cookbook author, and all-around great person Andrea Nguyen in our Test Kitchen, showing us how to make homemade tofu. From start to finish (well, after soaking dried soybeans overnight), it only took about an hour and a half. And it was So. Much. Fun.

The process starts by whirling soaked soybeans and water in a blender until the mixture looks like a rich vanilla milkshake. This is then cooked and drained, and the resulting liquid is creamy, nutty soymilk (delicious on its own, but we saved most of it for tofu-making). We coagulated different batches of soymilk with gypsum (calcium sulfate) and nigari (magnesium chloride) and waited for curds to separate from whey. When that happened, we delicately scooped the curds into a mold, weighted it with a can of tomatoes, and after 15 minutes, Andrea unmolded a beautiful block of tofu. At Andrea’s insistence, we begrudgingly allowed the tofu to cool to room temperature. Then we sliced it up, drizzled on a combo of soy sauce and chile oil, and ooohed and ahhhed over the masterpiece: the freshest, silkiest, moistest, nuttiest, creamiest tofu ever.

What fun DIY cooking projects have you tried? Comment here and let us know.

Read More: 11 Tofu Recipes