To make soya-bean milk at home,
you first have to soak the raw beans for eight hours. A small price to
pay, for a homemade product free - or so you hope - of additives and
chemicals.
The newest soya-milk maker from Joyoung should get a name change
though, as the machine can also whip up a mean bowl of porridge.
It has a mini blender that whizzes the soya beans into a fine
powder. The wonder machine then boils this powder in water to make the
drink.
An earlier model was only able to make a fine rice paste if you
replaced the beans with rice grains. The latest machine has a new
setting that does not reduce the rice to powder but leaves some of the
grain intact. The result is closer to rice porridge, a boon for the
lazy cook.
The same setting can also be used to make the black glutinous rice dessert, bubur hitam.
For new parents, this is a quick and easy way to make a complete
meal for a toddler, with fresh vegetables added to the porridge.
A separate setting will give you soya milk of a thicker consistency,
which means you can make your own bean curd at home. Add some sugar and
you get a fresh bowl of soya-bean pudding.
As for pre-soaking the beans, the instructions that come with the
machine say this is not a must. But I find that if you do soak the
beans ahead of grinding them, the product has a better flavour.
