Soya Bean Milk

i'd better state this outright......if you have spare time, lurrve the homebrew taste with no preservatives....yah go ahead try this out yourself. this is really cheap back home & you shld really save yourself the hassle. but since it costs >AUD$2.50/cup here, i thot i'd give it a shot (actually this is my 2nd go at it).

another item to add to my ever increasing list of comfort foods...the everyday humble soyabean milk, the pride of 5k yrs of chinese civilisation (hmmm maybe that was tofu). i'm a BIG fan of this drink and The Wife & my ex-colleagues can attest to that...every opportunity we get to lunch at ghimmoh market, i'd rather have this than fizzies. and warm one....not cold one hor. I even have my ICQ & MSN nic as SoYaX- The Mutant Bean for the longest time (that's another story that i'm working on).

the beany aroma seeping out of big hawker vats tucked away in their tiny stalls was a distinct part of my childhood. you see, i was brought up by my paternal grandma in ghimmoh and she lived just next to the market/hawker centre. on days when i get to accompany her and her neighbours down to the market/hawker centre, i'd see hawkers pouring this out of their vats into big plastic containers (those with lucid green frames and ladles) with icebergs in them. the gurgling of the ladle stirring and navigating through those icebergs and the generous portions of syrup sounded just right amongst the cacophony of marketplace.....& better yet you get one big sweating glass mug (not the puny pvc disposable cups they use these days) for less than 50 cents.

so here's the recipe adapted from a couple of sites. you have the option of blending the pandan leaves together with the beans to top the fragrance in the drink (it'd get slightly greenish but edible) or you can go with the 'traditional' approach of bundling up pandan leaves and boiling it with the milk (as described in this post). the latter approach will allow you to save the pulp. as The Wife's googles tell me, you can actually bake the pulp (okara) , blend them further and make more good stuff outta it. but all i really want is my soyabean milk lah.

Tools You'll Need To Make approx 1.5-2 litres of SBM

• blender with the centre sift attachment (i used The Wife's U-like blender. you can buy this inexpensive and really easy to use blender from isetan. the downside is that it's quite small so you'd need to repeat the process a few times. we use it mainly for making bb's food.)
• medium size metal/earthern pot
• sift lined with filter cloth (i used my bb's linen nappy)

Ingredients

• 300g soya beans
• 8-10 pandan leaves
• Water
• Rock sugar / raw sugar to taste
  

Preparation

• Soak the beans in clean tap water overnight. they'll look quite 'bloated' after soaking
• next day, drain and rinse once
• wash pandan leaves thoroughly, slit at the centre of each leaf into 2 (more flavourful instead of just using without slitting). bundle them up into a few knots.
  

Brewing

• fill about 3/4 full in the centre attachment of the blender with the beans
• pour boiling water into the blender until it reaches 3/4 full of the blender's jug
• blend for about 40-50 seconds. (Avoid blending for more than 1 minute non-stop, it will cause the motor to be over-heated and stall, then you'd have to wait at least 20 min for the motor to cool down....according to the phamplet that came with the belnder, it aint a design fault. duh)
• pour out the blended milk into the pot with a filter lined sift
• then pour more clean water into the blender's jug, this time only about 1/3 full
• blend the soya pulp for anther 10-15 seconds
• pour out the milk and place the pulp aside for okara
• repeat steps until all the beans are blended (your should need to do this about 3 times using u-like)
• you can sift the milk as many times as you like....apparently, the more the milk has been sifted, the smoother the milk will be...i simply just folded the nappy n place it in the sift and drained through once. it tasted smooth enuff fer me
  
• add in all the bundled up pandan leaves and bring to boil at medium heat
• once the milk starts to bubble, IMMEDIATELY lower the heat to low. else you will have burnt taste in your SBM
  
• continue to brew for about 20-30 minutes till the pandan leaves turn yellowish
• add sugar to taste & serve
  

Preparation of okara

• press and drain milk out of pulp
• line it on aluminium foil and bake for 20-30 min. oven at low heat
• stir it occasionally so that it doesn't get burnt
• remove from baking tray and blend it further to get a powdery substance
• seal in airtight bag/container
  

now all i need is to find out how to make youtiao.......