Last summer, spent in Singapore, meant tau huay breakfast almost every morning because the stall was a 5 minute walk away. It would have been every morning but unfortunately, tau huay seems to be a common favorite. So like the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm. Little did I know that my kids enjoy it as much as I do. So a few days ago they asked me when we would go back to Singapore again. Thinking that they missed home, I asked why did they want to go back. Expecting the reply would be that they missed grandma and grandpa or Aunty Leena or  the sun or building sandcastles on the beach or  being able to wear clothes without the need for a jacket or that that they were being patriotic and missed the country they were born in, I was pleasantly humored when I heard the reply. We want to eat that white smooth jelly thing in the sweet sugar that we had for breakfast in Singapore.” Hmmm….I’d give them a score of 10 for describing tau huay so accurately.

I remember my brother and I used to play a game when we ate tau huay. We’d try to find the biggest slice of tau huay in our bowl and compare whose was bigger. Yeah..it’s a silly game but it’s what I think makes childhood memories so much fun. And the one thing I didn’t want my children to remember of their childhood was that they could only enjoy tau huay in Singapore or miss eating it! I took pity on them. Plus for the cost of the flight back, I could eat many many many bowls of tau huay!  In fact, to be precise, I would be able to eat 6000 bowls of tau huay.

Since it’s basically made from soya milk (tau huay chwee) which has been solidified to a jelly like consistency - just not as stiff as jelly, I decided to try my hand at it. As I trawled the net looking for a tau huay recipe to use, I realised that I would need gypsum, the gelling agent, which is unavailable here. Alternatively I could explore using agar-agar powder, which I did have in my pantry. Unfortunately, my first attempt at using agar-agar was a failure. I suppose I didn’t use enough of it to completely solidify all the tau huay chwee. So instead of tau huay, we decided that we would be content with tau huay chwee.

The smell of the tau huay chwee, so distinctly similar to tau huay made it difficult for us not to believe we were not eating tau huay. So until I find the right proportion of agar-agar powder to tau huay chwee to make tau huay, here’s my post on tau huay chwee and I guarantee you it tastes and smells exactly like the one from the stall at home. The pandan leaves make all the difference between the soy milk from the box and the one from the stall. And of course it’s hard to beat freshly squeezed and made with love.

(original recipe from here)

Ingredients for soya milk: (makes about 16 cups)

500gm soya beans (soaked overnight with lots of water)
2 litres water (for blending the beans)
875ml water
125ml evaporated milk
2 tbsp sugar
4 pandan leaves

Ingredients for sugar syrup:

300gm granulated sugar
360ml water
3 pandan leaves (tied into a knot)

Method:

1. Throw away the water the beans have been soaking in. And rinse the beans once or twice under running water.



2. Divide the beans into four batches. Blend each batch with 500 ml of water.



3. Line a sieve with muslin cloth/cheesecloth.



4. Pour the blended mixture into the muslin lined sieve.



5. Extract as much liquid as you can.



6. Then sieve the extracted liquid through another piece of clean muslin cloth again to get a residue-free liquid.
7. Pour the liquid into a heavy base pot, add the sugar, the 875ml of water and pandan leaves and bring to the boil. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon so that the soya milk will not burn at the base.



8. When it starts to boil, remove the pot from the heat and remove any scum that comes to the surface.



9. Put the pot back on the heat and bring to a second boil. No stirring required.
10. Remove from heat and remove scum again.
11. Do this once more. You’ll notice that the soy milk will have little to no scum by the 3rd boil.
12. Add the evaporated milk and stir and for another minute or two but do not bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and leave to cool.



13. To prepare the syrup - combine all the ingredients and bring to the boil. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
14. Then remove from heat and let it cool before using.
15. Add sugar syrup to the soy milk and enjoy hot or chilled.

Tips:

• Why do you need to bring to boil 3 times?

The cooking time is important, as raw soybeans contain a factor known as a tripsin inhibitor. Essentially, this means that the protein contained in the beans cannot be properly assimilated by the body unless the beans are well cooked. Soy milk should be cooked for at least 25 minutes from the first boiling time.

(thumbnail image and quote extracted from http://www.godsdirectcontact.org/veg/alternativeliving/recipe/8e.htm)


• The residue is called okara. This can be used to cook other dishes and is too nutritious to be thrown away.



• You can choose to remove the skin from the soya beans before blending or not. Removing the skin makes for a slightly better tasting okara. But I didn’t bother.
• From reading up, I’ve learnt that organic soy beans make better tasting soy milk but that could be subjective. However, I did use organic soy beans.
• When the soy milk cools, a piece of milk skin will appears on the top of the milk. Remove this first before drinking.
• It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. So I suggest halving the recipe if you’re not a soy milk fanatic.
• A word of caution - when the soy milk comes to a boil, it will boil over in a matter of seconds. You need to remove the pot from the heat. Don’t try to turn the heat down.