Ingredients
- ½ cup Soyabeans (soaked overnight)
- 2 cups Water
Before blending your soya beans, try to remove most of the skins. This takes a short time and is optional, but the final result will be a creamier, tastier milk. To remove the skins, using a little bit of pressure roll the soaked beans between your hands when the beans are still in the water used for soaking. The skins will come off easily and float to the surface of the water (where you can just take them out and put them in your compost bin). Keep doing this for a few minutes until most of the skins are removed.
Put the soybeans into a blender (and put the skins and soaking water in your compost or use them directly to water your plants!). Add 2 cups of water, little by little, to the beans and blend well. Once they are well blended, you’ll see a lot of froth. It’s best to spoon it out (and add it to your compost or to your plants!)
You have a choice of two methods to make your milk, but both require that the milk is heated. This is very important because soybeans are legumes, and all legumes require cooking in order to be edible and digestible.
The first method (the one demonstrated in the video) originates from Japan and requires you to heat the mixture directly from the blender. Heat it just before the boiling point (when little bubbles appear around the edges of the pot), stirring regularly (so it doesn’t stick to the pot) with a wooden spatula, for about 15 minutes.
Pour this milk into a strainer lined with a muslin cloth and let it strain into a bowl. Tie up the corners of the cloth and use a masher to press it so the milk drips into the bowl.
After it has cooled down, pour it into a bottle, and store it in the fridge for 4-5 days.
The second method is much more common and all the above steps are included but the order is different. You first pour the blended mixture (without the froth!) directly into a muslin cloth that you’ve put over a bowl. Because the mixture is not hot, you can tie the corners of the cloth together, twist and tighten it, and use your hands to squeeze the milk out into the bowl.
You then pour this into a pot and heat it (just like the first method), taking care to stir it regularly with a spoon. Once it’s cooked for 15 minutes, you can take it off the heat, let it cool down, pour it into a bottle and put it in the fridge where you can store it for 4-5 days.
********************** Because soybeans are rich in protein, a skin may form when the milk is heated. You can put it in your compost but you can also add it to savoury dishes. More interestingly, you can use the soy pulp that remains after the milk has been pressed out. This pulp has a name: Okara, and has been used in Japanese and Chinese cuisine for hundreds of years.