One of the things you will never catch me buying from the supermarket is soy milk. Not because I despise the stuff; on the contrary, I love it. Soy milk conjures memories of weekend mornings in Singapore when dad would go down to the local "town centre" to buy us breakfast and will almost always come back with tau huay (soy bean curd) and tau huay chwee (soy milk). Both were always super hot and super creamy... and both always made me feel super healthy even if the curd was often topped with a layer of sugar syrup.
These soy milk products are such a simple pleasure but it's one I always look for whenever I'm back home.
Which brings me to why I wouldn't be caught dead picking up soy milk in the supermarket. The stuff they sell in the super market is pure crap. Watered down, almost grey crap which in all honesty, looks pathetic compared to the opaque white nectar you get in Singapore. The only place that I would buy soy milk from is the Asian supermarket - there are two companies in Perth which make the stuff to an acceptable standard.
Unfortunately, the brand I prefer is also notoriously erratic. Firstly, they don't seem to regularly deliver their products to the Asian grocers any more. They used to be in ALL the Asian grocers but now I only know of 2 grocers who stock them. Secondly, the quality (not taste) of the milk seems to be quite suss. There have been times where I've gleefully returned home with my treasure only to find it completely coagulated a couple of days later. So much heart pain.
Well no more. Now that I have my super swish blender, I've embarked on a mission to make my own soya milk. It's much cheaper than buying it in store. It's also ridiculously easy to make. It does require a bit of prep time though... but I think it's worth it. The hubby seems to think so too. :)
Soy milk (adapted from Blending with the Boss, the special cookbook which comes with Breville's The Boss blender)
160g soy beans (soaked for at least 6 hours)
1.2 litres of water (filtered is suggested by the original recipe)
sugar to taste
Method:
- Wash the soy beans and throw out any discoloured beans.
- Put half the soy beans into the blender with 600ml of water. Blend until the beans are broken down to fine particles.
- Pour the mix into a muslin lined strainer over a pot, squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the muslin.
- Repeat 2 and 3
- Put the pot on the stove and bring the mix to a slow boil while stirring the mixture. Skim off any foam or skin that forms at the top in the process.
- Once the milk starts to boil, let it boil gently for about 10 - 15 minutes. Add sugar/sweetener to taste and keep stirring.
- Once you are satisfied with the taste of the milk, turn off the heat and transfer the milk immediately to another pot/container/jug with a wide opening.
- Let the mix cool off the stove, skimming any skin that might form in the meantime.
- Once completely cool, transfer the soy milk into a bottle/sealed jug and keep in the fridge.
Notes:
- Depending on the size of your blender, you might have to split the processing into batches. The original recipe suggested to do it in two batches. The Boss has quite a generous pitcher so if you have a more modestly sized blender, you might have to do it over 3-4 batches.
- You can get nut milk bags from eBay. I used muslin because it's all I had on me. Just be careful with using muslin because it's easy to get distracted and suddenly fine soy bean paste squelching out of the top of your cloth because you didn't seal it properly.
- Step 6 wasn't part of the additional recipe - I added it because I suspected that my soy milk was getting too overheated from the residual heat of the pot and stove. My first attempt at soy milk was a bit too thick for my liking which I suspect was because of this. My second attempt worked much better.
- I used a pyrex measuring jug in Step 6. It's perfect because it's large enough to hold a batch of soy milk and it's easy to transfer the milk to a bottle for storage.
