Soy Ahoy!
I pull my disheveled and grumpy self out of bed. Ambling out, I catch a delicious aroma wafting from the kitchen.
Oh yes, I perk up, it’s Saturday morning! The day when freshly-bought packets of local food and soy milk await my stirring.
Spread across the dining table would be permutations of congee, fried carrot cake and fishball noodles. Or steamed rice cakes with radish and roti prata.
And there would be a weekly constant – an accompanying cup of warm soy milk, just the way I liked it.
Such acts of love were the devices of my early-riser dad who loved wandering to nearby food centres at dawn, and returning with truckloads of goodies.
As a kid, I’d liked to think of this routine as a Saturday surprise (because you never knew what food he’d come home with).
Last week, I had a strong craving for warm soy milk. Being thousands of miles away from home, I decided it’d be a good challenge to make the drink from scratch.
So armed with a bagful of soy beans and tips from a Taiwanese couple here, I adapted a recipe from Madam Choy’s Cantonese Recipes.
Homemade Soy Milk
Ingredients
500 grams soy beans, washed and soaked overnight
8 cups water
4 pandan leaves, tied into knots
3 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
Method
1. Drain the beans after having soaked them overnight.
2. Add water. Blend finely. I like to use a hand blender for its sheer convenience, but you can transfer to a jug blender as well.
3. Transfer blended mixture by portions into a large muslin bag (or cheese cloth). Wring the milk into a pot. Knead the bean pulp in the muslin bag and ensure the liquid has been drained into the pot.
4. Add pandan leaves into pot. Bring liquid to a gentle simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Do not let it boil, or the milk will curdle.
5. Add sugar to taste.
Makes 5 glasses.
Soy milk was surprisingly easy to make, and tasted really authentic. This is definitely going to feature more regularly in my breakfast menus!
