Chinese Soy Milk Recipe -- Dou Jiang (and You TIao?)

Anyone who grew up in a Chinese household knows that REAL soymilk is not Silk or any of those other common American brands... Vanilla soymilk? Chocolate soymilk? Blasphemy! Let me introduce you to the traditional Chinese-style soybean drink that is so pure, it literally is made of just water, soybean, and sugar.

Soy milk, or "dou jiang" was created in the Han Dynasty (yeah that's right, thousands of years before Silk existed!).  As you know, the Asian population is largely lactose intolerant, meaning that we do not have the enzymes to break down lactose, a type of "sugar" in milk. Soy milk is a great alternative to milk: it provides the same amount of proteins, more fiber, and less cholesterol/fat.  In Taiwan, soymilk is a staple food and is on everyone's breakfast platter (accompanied by a nice fried piece of dough called "you tiao").

Enough of  that, let me introduce you to the ways of making your very own soy milk!

Ingredients:
- soy beans, organic (16 oz)
- water (16 cups or 4 liters)
- sugar (add to taste)

Directions:
1) Allow soybeans to soak in water overnight. After soaking, they will expand, and some of the "skin" will peal off easily too.  To the best of your ability, remove the skin, but it's okay to leave some in. Discard the water you used to soak the soybeans.

soaking the beans

expands after soaking

2) In several batches, blend together the soybean with the water in a high speed blender.

3) Collect the blended mixture is a very large pot and heat the mixture on medium-high heat.  Keep the milk over a rolling boil for 30-45 minutes. Stir frequently as the pulp can settle and burn on the bottom of your pot!

4) Extra optional step: use a hand blender and blend the heated mixture in the pot as it continues to boil.  By blending the mixture after the soybeans had a chance to cook a little, you are more likely to be able to break it down further, releasing more nutrients and flavor.

5) After you finish boiling, allow the drink to cool a bit (to avoid burning yourself). Strain the mixture through a large cheesecloth.  I have sew mine into a nice pillow-case shape to easily pour things into it.  Give the bag a nice strong SQUEEZE to extract as much fluid back out.

 
6) Just for fun: you can use the soybean pulp as a face mask! It has been shown that the nutrients in the soybean pulp can moisturize, exfoliate, and whiten your skin.  Beware, it's very crumbly and can get very messy! One way to keep things together is to mix the pulp with an egg and some honey!! :)

7) ENJOY!!!

Final product!!!