Do smells really spark a flurry of emotional memories? Is there a pleasant aroma that makes you feel like you’re being transported back to your childhood home?
The smell of fresh-baked bread, mom’s homemade chicken noodle soup, or a pot of freshly brewed coffee? One that really conjures up vivid memories for me is the smell of freshly boiled soy milk.
I never really liked dairy milk when I was young. My breakfast, which typically included boiled cow’s milk plus sugar, would make me just want to cry. As milk was considered a nutritious and precious food at that time, my mom felt she was doing her best to provide a protein rich breakfast for me. After growing up and learning more about food allergies and intolerance, I blamed it on lactose.
As an alternative, I much prefered soy milk to dairy milk. Waking up in the morning to a room filled with the aroma of freshly boiled soy milk, is a smell I grew to associate with a hearty breakfast. Later when a job took me to Beijing, where I lived alone, you could usually find me in a soy milk shop (the equivalent of a coffee shop) having breakfast before work.
Did you know that you can also make black bean milk? It is made from black beans (not necessarily black soybeans) and is very popular in Taiwan. So if you’re allergic to soy, this can be a fantastic non-dairy and non-soy option for you.
Because I love the smell of fresh boiled soy milk, I decided to use a mixture of soaked soybeans and black beans for this low carb black bean soy milk recipe. All you need are four ingredients:
Black beans
Soybeans
Water
Sweetener (stevia or erythritol)
If you already know how to make soy milk at home, you pretty much can make your own black bean soy milk using the same method. By making your own, you can control how much sweetener you add to it. It’s absolutely 100% natural without any filler or thickening agent which many people consider to be unhealthy. It is very diabetic-friendly with its low carbohydrate profile.
By combining black beans and soybeans together, this black bean soy milk is rich in protein and vitamins, low in sugar and fat. It’s a non-dairy milk you can easily make at home.
- ⅓ cup black beans
- ⅔ cup soybeans
- 6 cups water
- optional ½ teaspoon pure stevia extract powder
- Rinse and soak black beans and soybeans with cold water in a bowl for at least 6 hours. Drain and rinse well.
- Transfer half of the soaked beans into a blender; add 3 cups of water. Blend the soybean approximately 1 minute or until it is smooth.
- Line a saucepan with a single layer of muslin cloth, then pour the blended soybean water mixture into the muslin cloth.
- Repeat step 2 and 3 to finish the rest of the beans.
- Collect all ends of muslin cloth and squeeze out the liquid (soy milk) to strain the mixture.
- Boil the liquid on the stove top. After boiling, simmer for 1 minute.
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Thanks for this! Can you do it completely without soy beans? I am looking to make a soy-free tofu and don’t mind if the flavor is different BUT want to make sure it is going to work, as in the coagulants will work even without soy beans involved. What are your thoughts?
It might. I think you should start with some white beans, such as navy beans or great northern beans. I used to make white bean yogurt (concentrated white beans milk with probiotic powder) for my husband. It worked find without soybeans. So if you’d like to try, make sure don’t add to much water when you make the bean milk. Let me know how that turns out. 🙂
hi, I’m really interested in the white bean yogurt you speak of here. could you let me know the exact proportions. I’ll also try the tofu idea using the same white bean milk, although around the web they say that soy beans have a very unique protein-starch proportion which is key to the coagulation of tofu.. anyway, I’ll start with locally grown white bean yogurt.. thank you!
Wow… This recipe is so simple and easy to make and I hope this will also very yummy. Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe with us.
You are welcome, Stephanie! I’m glad to share healthy and tasty recipe here with you.
Hey Joyce your recipe is easy to follow!! But I think I need some help from you. I tried making only black bean soy but it doesn’t work. The color, the taste is just off. Must I mix it with the white soybean or it is possible to make with only black bean? Is there something wrong with my black bean?
Yes, you need to mix it with soybeans otherwise the texture and taste won’t be so great. Soybeans do add creamy texture to it which is very important.