Home made soyabean milk
Two weeks ago, K and I were talking about how hard it was to find good soyabean milk here in KL. I find that the soyabean milk, or tau cheong, sold by most of the roadside stalls too diluted, too milky and too sweet. Let’s not even begin to talk about the packet or bottled ones…I find those totally unpalatable. What we both agreed on was that soyabean milk should be thick and creamy…in fact, we were both agreeable to giving up tau foo fa if we could even find one stall that sold tau cheong the way we wanted it!
Of course we could not, hence began our quest to make tau cheong ourselves.
While K embarked on finding a good soyabean milk maker (one that could grind and boil the soybeans), I ended up at my parent’s house last week learning how to make it orang-matically. The end result was just how we envisioned it to be…really thick, really creamy, and not too sweet. Heaven!
I made another batch today, and this time, I took photos…so for those who have some spare time on your hands, here you go…a step-by-step pictorial guide on how to make soyabean milk!
I use organic soybeans which I bought from Just Life @ Ikano for RM5.90. The salesperson told me that they sell three types there, ie. soybeans that were made in China, Australia and Canada. I’m using the ones made in Australia.
Wash the beans and soak overnight in water (or at least 8-10 hours). The beans will expand slightly by the next morning.
Blend the beans with water…I use a 1:2 ratio, ie. the amount of water should be double the beans.
You’ll end up with a thick, creamy paste, not unlike a smoothie!
Pour the blended soybean batch by batch into a muslin cloth.
Here’s where the hours of practicing piano comes in handy… 
Squeeze and squeeze somemore to strain the soyabean milk from the pulp.
What you’ll get, other than tired hands, is raw soyabean milk…
…and the ‘dried’ pulp, which is called okara. Some websites say that you can use the okara in cookies and cereals by toasting it beforehand in the oven. I’m too lazy to try, but hey…if you’re free, you could add some coloring and turn it into the nation’s [insert suitable adjective here] [insert some M'sian object here] and get into the book of records…
Add a couple of pandan (screwpine) leaves for flavour and sugar to taste (I use rock sugar). Start boiling the soyabean milk in a large pot (you’ll know why later).
Remember to keep an eye on the pot as you really do not want the soyabean milk to burn and waste all your hard work! Cooking the soyabean milk will get rid of the ‘beany’ taste (and some undesirable inhibiting enzymes). Stir constantly…
…and watch out when it starts to bubble as it’ll boil over very quickly. Yes, this is why you need the large pot… 
Turn off the fire once the soyabean milk boils…
…and voila! You’re done! What I did after that was to let the soyabean milk cool down, and then strain it again to get rid of the thin film that will form on top.
For a change in flavour, I scooped some of the soyabean milk out and reboiled it with some vanilla bean paste…yummy!
Now, if only I can find gypsum powder…I really want to try making tau foo fa!
Comment by pixel on 20 August 2007 @ 8:08 pm
Ooh! That looks fun!
May I try some please?
Comment by coketai on 20 August 2007 @ 11:00 pm
Why don’t you just bought one unit of the soya bean making machine? But let me warn you, you most probaly use it once and keep in the kitchen shelf.
By the way, I have one but now store deep inside my kitchen shelf in Penang ( not even brought it with me in Shanghai!) but I am thinking to buy a new one here. You see! I never learn from mistake! I believe so do you!!!! Ha! Ha!
LY.Tai
Comment by carrot on 21 August 2007 @ 12:04 am
i want to try! hehe
i’ve thought of doing this before, since i consume lots of soy milk. but too lazy lah.
u can find good soy milk here….but they’re imported ones.
Pacific organic soy milk’s good. i buy the unsweetened variety but they have a sweetened one and a vanilla flavoured on too.
Comment by boo_licious on 21 August 2007 @ 9:14 am
Home made version is always the best. My family went through this craze for fresh soya milk once but now no one makes any so the machine also sits around like a white elephant.
Comment by alvin on 21 August 2007 @ 11:01 am
I come over next weekend for some k…..
Comment by MeiyeN on 21 August 2007 @ 12:52 pm
wow wow.. sounds easy! i wanna try it too…. thanks for da tips!
Comment by ec on 21 August 2007 @ 7:32 pm
hehe…u so hard working
especially the squeezing part..keke
thanks for the pic to pic tutorial, ya
will try it out when i’m not too lazy
Comment by sooyin on 22 August 2007 @ 8:49 pm
Pixel: Haha…no more dy…sorryyy. Doesn’t last long, I keep it up to 2 days at most!
Coketai: LOL…that’s the exact same reason why I’m thinking twice about buying it. Plus, I don’t know if the filter in those machines will be as fine as sieving it through muslin cloth.
Carrot: Ya, I saw some powdered ones in Village Grocer (with no lactose!), was tempted to try but don’t know if it’ll taste nice…
Siongee, MeiyeN & Ec: Try and let me know how it goes…it’s really easy to make (though abit messy)…
Boo_licious: Yup, home-made anything is usually the best…
Plus, we can control the amount of sugar, and how diluted/thick we want it to be…
Alvin: LOL…no more already lor…
Comment by sooyin on 5 September 2007 @ 8:35 pm
Carrot: Hmm…I imagine the powdered ones are like the powdered bubble tea…grainy?
SooYin Tang: Hiya, thanks for visiting! Hmm…I still haven’t figured out how to make Tau Foo Fa yet, unfortunately!
Pingback by Jamie Soon .com » Blog Archive » Weekend: Dog Show and Soyabean on 30 June 2008 @ 10:52 am
[...] After lunch, tried to make soya bean drink. I bought soya beans yesterday and already soaked it for more than 12 hours. Followed instructions on internet. Turn out pretty good! Quite easy, just blend it and sieve and boil it. http://www.sooyin.com/2007/08/20/home-made-soyabean-milk/ [...]
Comment by Jamie Soon on 30 June 2008 @ 2:10 pm
Yes, thank you for the very clear instructions … could make quite alot of soya bean milk from just half packet of beans … now no need to buy the packet soya.. save money … heheh…
Comment by athena on 12 August 2008 @ 2:43 am
thanks you for showing us how to make soyabean. tq tq
i am going to make it tomorro n also i am going to cook some pearl to go with so it will be soyabean bubble pearl tea yummy yummy. 
Comment by athena on 12 August 2008 @ 2:49 am
ohh by the way do u know how to make mango pearl bubble tea? i try to buy the powder but i cant find it
Comment by athena on 12 August 2008 @ 5:11 pm
u know instead of the pandan leaf can u use something else? becuase here it is very hard to find pandan leaf as it is a foreign country.
Comment by sooyin on 6 September 2008 @ 9:11 pm
Athena: Sorry, absolutely no idea how to make bubble tea! You can skip the pandan leaf if you want, it’s not an essential ingredient. It does help to make the soya bean abit more fragrant, but I don’t think it’ll make much difference if you leave it out…