Homemade Soy Milk

Passing cartons of soy milk in the supermarket one day while shopping only made me a bit more curious as to how it was made.  Some time passed and I forgot about it but the universe wasn’t ready for me to forget. So my wishes got answered without me ever asking too much of the Big Man. I was in for a surprise…….

It was a Sunday evening and I was just minding my business as usual – trying to relax before I start another week. My wife and son went to visit her aunt, while I rested listening to some music. Not long afterwards she came back to drop off my son to go back….To go back? Now that got me a little curious. Then she told me to come with her because I wouldn’t want to miss this for the world. She said by her aunt some ladies from the SDA church were being shown how to make gluten, soy milk and tofu….She didn’t have to say much again. I got up, grabbed pencil and paper and went with her….

The kitchen was abuzz with activity.  Pots were on the stove and the table at the centre was filled with ingredients – even on the counter there wasn’t a place left free.  There were women in the kitchen standing around; some sitting with little note pads or copybook pages and pencil in hand, busily writing down the ingredients for the various recipes that were being made.

They would often ask questions. Before long I noticed my wife’s cousins and and some other ladies from the village. And me, I was just inhaling it all in. I was in my element, so to speak, and I was ready to learn. That’s when I was introduced to Sister Williams, a jovial and humble woman who was sharing her recipes with the group.  She was guiding the women through the steps.

Homemade Soy Milk, Tofu and Gluten

Well, you know I was asking about 101 questions, because it was the first time I was seeing gluten, tofu and soy milk being processed at home. Sister Williams really inspired me; and seeing my deep interest in every recipe she was doing, started giving me other tips to the recipes based on her many years of vegetarian cooking experience. I was glad that she shared from her extensive knowledge of  vegetarian cooking that is commonplace for Seventh Day Adventists.

I was totally amazed at the tastes of the various dishes made with the tofu and gluten.   And, I never knew that the soy milk would have been so easy to make – which you will see in a moment. The gluten was equally easy once you followed the procedure carefully. And, the most natural progression from the soy milk was to make tofu.

Now this one really had me interested, since I have been already experimenting with some tofu recipes earlier on.  So making it from scratch would be even more natural and also cost effective, than buying at the supermarket. Tofu was easy to make, but more on that one in an upcoming post. So back to the soy milk adventure….

After the demonstrations I was happy to say that vegetarian cooking could be quite enjoyable.  I learnt a lot.  And with Sister Williams’ blessing, I’m sharing what I learnt that Sunday evening with you all.  Finally, you will need a muslin cloth for this recipe.  You may substitute for a clean white cotton cloth. Here we go.

Homemade Soy Milk Recipe

 HOMEMADE SOY MILK

1 pk soy beans (350 g)
water (follow directions below)
cinnamon ( for flavour )
bay leaf (for flavour)
vanilla essence ( for flavour )
sugar (to sweeten), optional

Soak soy beans overnight.

Blend together every 1/4 cup of soy bean with  3/4 cups water.

Blend until the beans are very fine.

I found it easy to first strain the mixture.  Then….

Strain it again in a  muslin cloth.  If you don’t have one, use a clean white cotton cloth.

Note: You can reuse the husk. Add it to eggs, or make patties.

Transfer the strained soy liquid. It looks white as you can see above.  The milk is then boiled (you may boil it with cinnamon, bay leaf, etc. ) on a medium to high fire (rolling boil).

When it starts to boil you lower the fire and let is stop boiling, then afterwards continue boiling it again.  Do this 3 to 4 times.   It gives the flavour of the cinnamon or bay leaf etc. time to infuse.  Remove and allow to cool before you store it in a sterilized glass bottle.

Note: Make sure to skim the foam off the top while it is boiling. Stir to prevent the soy milk from sticking .

Now, I removed some of the milk and added some vanilla and…

… sweetened with some sugar.  These ingredients are optional.  This I stored in a glass and refrigerated.   The balance I used to make tofu.

In all we made about 5L of soy milk.

Well that’s it for another post. Hope you liked this homemade soy milk recipe.

Ah gone 🙂