Soy Milk 豆漿

I grew up drinking soy milk 豆漿 [Mandarin: dou jiang]. In Taiwan, it was often a part of my breakfast instead of regular milk. In fact, I hated the taste of cow's milk when I was a kid. And while cow's milk eventually grew on me, I still choose soy milk over cow's milk if given a choice.

During my childhood, Taiwanese breakfast stalls sold soy milk in plastic bags. Today, soy milk is more often sold in plastic or paper cups. It can be either sweet, salty, or unflavored. Sweet and unflavored soy milk are consumed more like a drink. Salty soy milk is usually flavored with dried shrimp, daikon, and scallions, and is more savory than salty. Into both types of soy milk, you can dip unflavored fried dough sticks called 油條 [you tiao] (or 油炸粿 in Taiwanese [iu chia kue]).

Youtiao dipped in soy milk

When my family moved to the U.S. about 20 years ago, we would buy soy milk from the Chinese grocery store. It was not yet common in regular grocery stores at that time. In the late 2000's, when soy milk finally could be found in every grocery store, I decided that perhaps it was time to try out the American version of soy milk. I bought a carton of SILK soy milk, poured it into a cup, took a sip -- and promptly spat it out. Missing from it was all the rich taste of the soy bean, and it tasted like artificial flavorings. I don't remember what I did with that carton, but I've avoided buying soy milk from the grocery store from then on.

A few years later, it finally dawned on me that I can make my own soy milk. After some research and experimenting, here is my recipe for authentic Chinese/Taiwanese sweet soy milk.

You will need: 1 cup soy beans (non-GMO, organic), 6-8 cups water plus more for soaking, and sugar (optional).

Place the soy beans into a large bowl. Cover the beans with water and soak overnight. Then drain the water. Here's what the beans look like before and after soaking.

Before soaking 

After soaking

Next, put half of the beans and 3-4 cups of water in a blender.

Blend for about a minute.

Pour the mixture into a large pot. And repeat for the other half.

Heat the soy mixture over medium heat for about 30-45 minutes, stirring constantly. Stirring is essential here: you don't want the mixture to burn or stick to the bottom of the pot. (Note: Sticking is almost inevitable when making soy milk. Stirring just minimizes it.)

Place a strainer over a large bowl and line it with a piece of cheesecloth. (I'm using a nut milk bag here.) Pour the heated mixture through the lined strainer or bag so the soy milk collects in the bowl.

When most of the liquid has drained out and has cooled down enough to handle, squeeze as much of the liquid out of the soy puree into the bowl.

If desired, add sugar to the milk. I opted not to for this batch.

Store the finished soy milk in a sealed glass container in the refrigerator. It should keep up to a week.

This homemade soy milk is rich in taste and nutrients. It can be served hot or cold. And best of all, it does not contain any artificial flavoring or preservative. Enjoy!

Beef Noodle Soup 牛肉麵

It's been a few months since my last post, and we're now in the middle of winter. With the mild winter this year, I thought I wouldn't get to cook the soups I usually make during the winter months. But the temperature finally dropped enough for me to crave hot soup.

Beef noodle soup 牛肉麵 [Mandarin: niu rou mian / Taiwanese: gu ba mi] was arguably my favorite food growing up, and, as such, it has a special place in my heart. I've tried making this without vegetables and with vegetables, and I've found I like the version with vegetables more. The addition of vegetables when making the broth imparts a naturally sweet flavor. I'm using an onion and tomato in this recipe. I think daikon would give very nice flavor to the soup as well.

You will need: 3-4 lb beef chuck roast, 3 Tbsp cooking oil, 8-10 cloves garlic, 6 slices ginger, 1 medium onion, 1 large tomato, 6 Tbsp chili bean sauce, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup rice wine, 3 star anise, water, Chinese noodles (can be substituted with fettuccine), and bok choy.

Chili bean sauce 辣豆瓣醬 [Mandarin: la dou ban jiang] is a spicy paste made from fermented soybeans. There is also a non-spicy version that does not include chili if you don't like spicy food. Beef noodle soup is traditionally spicy, but you are certainly welcome to customize your soup to fit your taste. You can find both versions of the bean sauce in an Asian market. I prefer the brand (pictured below) with the blue lid that is made in Taiwan. Lee Kum Kee is another brand that I would trust.

First, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Then lower the beef into the boiling water. The goal is not to cook the meat. What we're doing at this stage is getting rid of some of the yucky protein residue that comes from cooking meat in a soup.

Let the meat cook for about 3-4 minutes, just so the outside is white. Fish the meat out and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process. Discard the water.

Cut the beef into cubes. Set aside.

Heat up the cooking oil in a hot wok. Once the oil is hot, throw in the ginger slices and peeled garlic cloves. Stir fry until fragrant.

Then chop the onion into large chunks and throw the chunks into the wok. Stir it around.

Put the bean sauce into the wok. Stir fry for about 3 minutes.

Now, cut the tomato into 8 wedges and throw the wedges in. Stir it around.

Now, add the beef chunks.

Stir fry until the beef chunks turn mostly white.

Transfer the mixture from the wok to a large pot. Add the soy sauce, rice wine, and star anise. Cover the meat with water.

Bring the soup to a boil. Then turn down the heat and cover with a lid. Allow the soup to simmer for about 5-6 hours (or longer if you like).

Here's what my soup looks like after 6 hours of simmering. The garlic, onion and tomato chunks should now be super soft and almost disintegrated. The beef should be tender but not falling apart. The soup is condensed and very flavorful by this point. If you like, you can filter out the ginger, garlic, onion, tomato, and star anise. I personally don't mind them staying in the soup.

Now, we assemble the bowl. First, boil up some noodles and put the cooked noodles in a large bowl.

Chop up some bok choy and boil them in the same water you cooked the noodles in. Fish them out and top your noodles with them. Then ladle some of the noodle cooking liquid into the bowl too.

Now, ladle some of the beef soup into the bowl. Make sure you top off with lots of the tender beef. Garnish with some chopped green onions if you so choose. Another popular and traditional topping is Chinese sauerkraut 酸菜 [Mandarin: suan cai]. I chose not to top mine off with anything because I was hungry.

Enjoy!