102. Cooking homemade tofu (with crushed soya beans from making soya milk)

Ok, yesterday, after the whole process of making soya milk, and after drinking homemade soya milk and cleaning up, did you notice there is something left there? -- I call it ‘left over’ crushed soya beans. I hope you haven’t thrown it away yet, as it is still useful -- we are not wasting any of it. Ha…

Since making soya milk at home became so popular, people also came up with many ways of using these ‘left over’ crushed soya beans. For example, many people use it on the skin. --- Confused? :)) It is a secret -- I don’t know if there are any official books talking about it, but it has been practiced by many … ladies -- I learned it from my mum. :) These ‘left over’ crushed soya beans form a kind of paste, of course with some impurities. Just like milk is good for skin, and it can be used when taking a shower or washing your face, soya beans are also very good for making the skin smoother. Moreover, they can be used as a natural exfoliant.

Ok, coming back to their culinary uses... the most common way of using these crushed soya beans is to stir fry them. It sounds a bit crazy -- stir-frying a paste? Yes, and it is very tasty, and extremely nutritious. It is very easy to make, if you are interested, here you go.

Ingredients:

Crushed soya beans (from making soya milk)

Oil, spring onion, ground sichuan peppercorn (optional), salt, sesame oil (optional)

Preparation:

Allow the paste of crushed soya beans sit for a while.
Chop half of the spring onion into small pieces.

Cooking:

1) In a heated wok, add in around 2 -3 tablespoons of oil.

2) When oil is hot, add in 1/3 teaspoon of ground sichuan peppercorn (optional) and chopped spring onion.

3) Stir-fry the spring onion and ground sichuan peppercorn until you can smell the spring onion.

4) Add in the paste of crushed soya beans, stir-fry it with spring onion.

5) Add in around 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and keep on stir-fry the content for further around 3 minutes, until the paste is getting further drier, add in couple of drops of sesame oil if you like. ---

----- Done!!

The taste is very similar to tofu, actually, it probably tastes even more ‘purer’ than tofu, just without the smoothness of normal tofu, but gives a different texture. :)

I really hope you like it. :)) (Sorry I could not find the photos for this dish, I will have to put them on later once I fine them.)

Making soya milk at home

Soya milk and you tiao

These few days, we have been talking about calcium intake.  I am not a big fan of any dairy products, which is a great source of calcium; apart from seafood and green vegetables, my main source of calcium, I think it has got to be --- my favorite soy bean products. Apart from the soybean recipes I shared before, a few friends asked about homemade soya milk, so in these two post, let’s talk about making soya milk at home, and ideas about using ‘left over’ crushed soya beans after making soy milk. :)))

Personally I like, and only like homemade soya milk -- it tastes so much more ‘pure’ than the ones sold in the supermarkets here in UK, especially I don’t like the idea that it is mixed with apple juice. The ones bottled in China contain ingredients other than just pure soya, which probably makes it richer in vitamins, and the taste is not bad, but still, I prefer the homemade version --- :)) I am picky, but once you tried homemade ones, you will know what I mean. :))

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