How to make soy milk drink: silky texture, rich aroma
Discover homemade soy milk drink - smooth, pure, rich soy aroma and high-protein
This soy milk recipe shows you how to make pure and silky soy milk and other soy milk-based drinks. Soy milk is a popular, high-protein and lactose-free drink. Soy milk is also an excellent go-to high-protein drink after your workout. One cup (240ml) of no-sugar soy milk contains around 7g of protein and 75 cl. You can also drink soy milk with a bit of sugar to build muscle.
In Taiwan, soy milk is much cheaper than milk. When I first came to Australia in 2017, I was excited that fresh milk was cheaper than soy milk, so I could drink as much as I wanted. As time passed, I started to miss the flavour of the soy milk. I found soy milk in supermarkets such as Coles and Woolworths. Although they taste good, their flavour differs from pure homemade soy milk. Therefore, I decided to recreate the soy milk flavour from my memories at home. I use a soybean-to-water ratio of 1:7 to achieve a rich soybean aroma. If you prefer lighter and delicate flavours, a 1:10 ratio works well.
This soy milk creates a rich flavour of soya flat white (soybean milk + coffee) because it has a strong soy aroma and smooth texture. In Taiwan, we also love mixing soy milk and fresh milk, which we call 'soy milk milk’. The ratio of fresh milk and soy milk depends on personal preference. The 1:1 ratio is my favourite. If you try the soybean milk, I would love to hear your feedback.
How to make soy milk drink
How to make soy milk with a rich aroma and silky texture?
Difficulty: simple. It is easy to make soybean milk. I will provide you with some tips to avoid little traps when cooking soybean milk.
Health features: high protein, gluten-free, lactose-free
Time: overnight for soaking soybeans, 40 minutes for cooking
Ingredients:
This recipe can make around 700ml of rich aroma and smoothy soy milk.
Soybeans: 300g
Drink Water: 2100 ml
Sugar: personal preference (optional)
Tips for choosing ingredients:
Soybean: soybeans are a common food ingredient to make food. In Australia, you can get it in vegetable shops, Tongli, and other Asian or Middle Eastern supermarkets. In Taiwan, you can get it in the traditional markets.
Sugar: If you want to add sugar to the soybean milk, I recommend choosing a sugar with less flavour, such as raw sugar or white sugar. This can avoid the sugar affecting the flavour of the soybean milk.
Step-by-step guidance for how to make soy milk drink:
Day 1
1. Soak soybeans in the water overnight
It is important to use a big bowl because the soybeans will double in size when soaked overnight.
If the weather is hot, I recommend keeping the bowl in the fridge to keep the soybeans fresh.
Day 2
2. Drain the soybeans. Add drinkable water and soybeans to the food processor or blender to blend them well to make raw soy milk.
Make sure the soybeans are finely blended with the drinking water. It is better to use a blender to blend water and soybeans finely. However, anyone can use a food processor to make good soy milk, just like me!
We use drinking water because this is the raw soy milk that we are going to cook.
It is normal for soybean pulp (okara) to settle at the bottom, making two separate layers.
3. Add all raw soy milk including soybean pulp (okara) to the pot and boil it on a high flame. Do not use the lid to avoid overflow.
Do not use the lid when boiling the raw soy milk. It will easily spill out of the pot and be hard to clean.
Sometimes, I accidentally let it overflow. The picture shows the mess I ended up cleaning on the stove.
It is essential to keep stirring the raw soy milk to avoid getting burned.
4. After boiling it, keep boiling for 15-20 minutes. Make sure soy milk does not taste bitter before you turn off the flame. If yes, boil for another 5 minutes and check it again.
When the soy milk is boiled, it will have a lot of foam. Once you see this foam grow, turn to a small flame and keep boiling for 15-20 minutes. You will see the foam slowly disappear.
When you boil the soy milk, keep stirring it to prevent it from burning.
It is important to check whether soy milk is done or not. Soybean contains saponin, so raw soy milk tastes bitter. Drinking raw soy milk can cause stomach ache. Therefore, before you turn off the flame, taste a bit of soy milk to see if it still tastes bitter. If yes, cook for another 5 minutes and recheck it. Keep repeating this step until the soy milk doesn’t taste bitter anymore.
As shown in the last picture, sometimes you will notice a layer of soy scum floating on the surface of the soy milk. This is completely normal and is actually another delicious soybean food.
5. Add sugar according to your preference when the soybean milk is still warm so the sugar can be dissolved in the soy milk. If you like sugar-free soy milk, you can skip this step.
I like sugar-free soy milk, so I skip this step.
6. After it cools down, filter the soy milk using a fine-mesh strainer and a soy milk bag (e.g., a nut milk bag /cheesecloth). Squeeze more soy milk out from the soybean pulps (okara).
I use a fine-mesh strainer that fits over the bowl or pot. It can support the soy milk bag when I pour soy milk into the bowl or pot. It will also work if you only have one of these two tools. Remember to squeeze more soy milk from the soybean pulps (okara) if you only use a fine-mesh strainer.
How to remove soy pulp (okara) with soy milk bag, nut milk bag or cheesecloth?
7. Alternatively, you can filter the raw soy milk before you cook soy milk without soybean pulps (okara).
As you can see in the picture, cooking soy milk without soybean pulps (okara) produces foam because the foam is derived from soybean saponin.
However, it is still important to continue boiling soy milk on a medium to small flame after it is boiled to avoid overflow.
If you cook without soybean pulps, the soy aroma will be lighter. I prefer cooking raw soy milk with soybean pulps (okara).
8. Ready to serve! There are three ways to enjoy this rich aroma, smooth, silky soy milk.
Directly drink this rich aroma, smooth and silky soy milk.
Soy milk milk: mix it with fresh milk. 1:1 is my favourite ratio.
Soy flat white: mix it with coffee.
I hope you enjoy this pure soy milk with a strong soy aroma and silky texture. For soybean pulps (okara) (the last picture shown above), you may throw them into the biowaste. In Taiwan, we also make it into other dishes. Are you interested in these dishes? Leave your comment below and let me know!