I hope you were wondering where I have been all this time?! Did you???
Throughout the last months I have been traveling a lot, even with my computer, which then though sadly decided to move over to the next level in his computer life, that is to join his ancestors, so for many weeks I was without a keyboard other than my phone under my eager fingers.
Back home I hurried to finish my second book on Ayurveda (which is now available through me, but it is in German just as the 1st one - sorry about that...) and then - I ventured off to China for 4 weeks.
From there I came back with my head full of new food and drink ideas, which I will do my best to share with all of you in the near future.
As usual, I am very grateful for any comments from my readers side, be it on the articles or on the presentation itself.
As a first subject I want to introduce you to making your own soy milk. I have done this quite often since I came back from the Land of the Middle.
Soy milk is a healthy drink that you can make very easily and conveniently at home. Please look for organic dried soybeans as soybeans are unfortunately one of the main foods being genetically manipulated big time- and off you go!
Soy milk has been consumed in Asia since thousands of years for breakfast. Now that I have recently had the great pleasure to drink a warm, freshly made soy milk on a cold morning in a village near Hangzhou, China, I would like to introduce this soothing, invigorating, healthy drink to you.
Personally I have never liked soy milk from the grocery store. Or it is flavored or contains a lot of sugar or both and the plain one was never to my taste.
At home, the easily digestible milk drink (on contrary to cow's milk, which for many of us is totally undigestible) is prepared quickly. When I made it for the first time it seemed like a lot of work. But in the meantime it takes me maybe 30 minutes and while the milk is simmering you can do other things in the kitchen, but keep an eye on the milk.
Is important though to consider eight hours beforehand that you would like to drink soy milk! Not so difficult to decide once you will have tasted your first pot of warm, homemade soy milk....I guarantee you!
For 1l soy milk you have to soak, best overnight, 125g dried soy beans grown organically in plenty of water. They triple their size approximately. Please use filtered water.
When you uncover them about 8 hours later, the next step is to take off the skin by rubbing the beans between your hands in the water. It is not essential to do this, but I found the taste better.
Then get rid of the soaking water and put the beans with about three times the amount of fresh water in the blender until you get a creamy, milky consistency, about 3 minutes. The liquid then should be sieved through a cloth or a very fine strainer.
Now boil the liquid and allow it to simmer for 15 minutes. A skin might form on the surface - just take it off.
The remaining pulp, which is called OKARA and can even be bought in grocery stores, at least in Japan (and imagine: you get the super healthy stuff for free!), can be used for example for baking. Last time I mixed the pulp with spices and herbs and made excellent "fake meat patties". Further, Okara makes a great fertilizer for your plants. Check out this great page regarding Okara:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/okara-recipes-healthy-vegetarian-cooking-zmaz83sozshe.aspx#axzz2lHISH6KN
And you're done already!! Drink hot or allow to cool and place in the refrigerator, where it will stay fresh until about 3 days after preparation. You can also "flavor" your milk if you like: when blending add berries, vanilla extract, raw cocoa powder - the imagination knows no limits.
Nutritional value of soy milk: it is vegan and contains no lactose! It also contains much higher quality and less fat than cow's milk and no cholesterol. The soy protein is digested by the body almost 1:1, while providing many valuable vitamins, e.g. four times more folic acid than cow's milk, as well as healthy saponins and flavonoids.
However, please remember that it contains much less calcium than cow's milk and no vitamin B12! But no worries, you can get calcium from many other healthy foodstuff as in dark leafy greens, Chinese cabbages, cheese, ocra, broccoli almonds and canned fish. B12 is to be found in sardines and salmon and - in lower quantities - in yoghurt.
There is by the way no evidence that soy milk has adverse effects on fertility in males.
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