I am not a big fan of any kind of milk, but sometimes you need it to mix with something—like pancake batter! 

Recently, I tried making some soya milk at home, which was quite tolerable. Okara is the soy pulp that is left after the milk is squeezed out. I used it to make soy patties that went as a good side dish with some ramen noodles.

First, let’s make soy milk.

Ingredients

Makes about 2 glasses

• 1 ½ cups dried soybeans 
• 3 cups water
• Sweetener (optional)

Method:

1. Wash and soak the soybeans for at least eight hours/overnight. 
2. Drain the water and rinse the beans.
3. Grind the beans in a mixer with the water. You might need to repeat the process if your mixer jar is small. 
4. Strain this mixture with a cheesecloth or nut bag. A sieve won’t work because you don’t want a lot of the soy particles coming through. It’ll make the milk heavier.
5. Boil the milk over high heat, then simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove the foam that builds upon the top layer.
6. You can use the milk as is or add a sweetener of your choice—sugar, jaggery, honey, etc.

Next, let make the okara patties.

Ingredients

Makes about 6 patties

• Leftover soybean pulp 
• 1 grated carrot
• 2 stalks of spring onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp each of grated ginger and garlic
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• salt/pepper
• About ½ cup water
• Oil to cook

1. Mix all the ingredients except the oil.
2. Check the consistency. If it seems too dry, add more water. If it’s too runny to make a patty, then add more flour.
3. Make flat patties with your palms. 
4. In a flat frying pan, heat the oil for cooking. There should be enough oil to cover the bottom of your pan, or the soft patties will stick to the pan and fall apart.
5. When the oil is hot enough, fry each side for about 2 minutes on medium heat.

*Note that soybean is quite heavy on the stomach and can make you very gassy. I wouldn’t recommend having more than two of these at a single sitting.

**You can also try out different combinations for the patties. Add coriander or parsley, cabbage and other veggies chopped into small pieces.