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Home-made soya milk

Growing up, buying and drinking soya milk is a simple thing. Soya milk is available fresh daily if anyone is inclined to drink it everyday, although we often ask the vendor to dial back on the amount of sugar syrup they add to the milk. Living abroad, it is no longer a staple for me because anything that I can find comes in a carton and lasts for months. These simply do not taste the same, and not for the better.

Home-made soya milk

Home-made soya milk

Even though I know making soya milk is not difficult, it can be rather time consuming. Because of the amount of effort required, it’ll end up being a big batch and then I’d run into the difficult of actually finishing everything within a short few days before they start to go off.

However, a recent craving refused to go away. I finally bit the bullet and made a batch at home. It’s simple stuff really, only two ingredients needed, and a possible third according to taste. I initially thought I may give some away to my friends, but that turned up to be unnecessary. F helped to finish it up rather quickly. (“This is good; it tastes like the soya milk we get in Malaysia.“)

Home-made soya milk

Home-made soya milk

Home-made soya milk

To make approximately 3L of soya milk, rinse and soak 400g of soya bean for a day. Or two. Rinse them again, and now work on removing the skin. Depending on the bean and the soaking time, this could be a breeze (just rub the beans and the skin will come off quickly) or a pain (individual peeling required). Some people don’t remove the skin, which is something I have not tried, so I’m not sure how they are different.

Anyway, let’s continue. Blend the beans, in batches, with some water. I used approximately 3.5L of water in total. Blended beans go into a large pot and the mixture is first boiled, then simmered over medium heat for 40-45 minutes and stirred occasionally. Skim off any skin (called yuba) that builds up at the surface. While yuba is edible and can be used in cooking, I admit to being hopeless in making something decent out of it.

Home-made soya milk

Home-made soya milk

Leave the mixture to cool somewhat before straining the mixture through fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth. Squeeze the residue to extract as much milk as possible. Again, the leftover pulp (called okara) can be used for cooking but I’m equally hopeless at it. (Major downside of growing up as the “eater” in the family rather than the “cook”!)

The soya milk can be sweetened with some sugar, according to taste. Drink it warm or chilled, your choice. Just don’t forget to store the rest in the fridge or they’ll start to sour up quickly, especially with heat. I bottle them up for easy storage and serving. I even set side a bottle of unsweetened soya milk for F but he ended up preferring the other version.

Level of ease in making soya milk? Peanuts. The amount of time spent? Perhaps a bit too much. Satisfaction in having fresh soya milk that tastes like home? Priceless.



Category: Kitchexperiment

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4 scribbles & notes

  1. medca says:

    Nice right and healthy too ;) Emily also makes this sometime. The pulp can be use to fry with eggs and bacon/spam….makes a yummy omelette kekeke

  2. sila says:

    oh best nya. come make some for me, lil!! :) can you make tau foo fah?

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