Time to Fortify with Soy

It’s that time again when we elevate all food created from that humble little legume, Glycine max or the soybean. Over the past 14 years, the Nichi Bei Foundation has organized 12 Soy and Tofu Festivals (2020 and 2021 were on hold due to the pandemic) and in that same time, I’ve created or at least shared 22 soy-based recipes through this column. I’ve included edamame, plain tofu, fried tofu, super firm tofu, aburaage, yuba, miso, natto, okara, shoyu and soy milk in these recipes. Whew! That’s a lot of variation based on a simple bean! But you always knew that the soybean was that versatile.

Soybean Production

The US produces about 28% of the world’s soybean crop at roughly 119 million tons annually – only Brazil produces more soybeans (40% and 169 million tons). About 80% of the annual production in the US comes from the Upper Midwest with Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana and Nebraska producing more than 300,000,000 bushels annually. Hopefully, this means that the costs of soybean-based products won’t exponentially rise with increased tariffs.

Soy-Based Pasta

This recipe incorporates both the usual and unexpected soybean variants. The sauce starts with soymilk but is infused with both dashi and Parmesan cheese while the noodles are edamame-based noodles. And just for good measure, edamame and yuba are added as accompaniments.

16 oz of edamame noodles or House Tofu Shirataki noodles

¼ cup edamame

About 1/2 cup of Parmesan rinds or ¼ cup flaked Parmesan

1 packet Kuze Fuku dashi powder

16 oz unsweetened soymilk

2 tsp garlic infused shoyu

¼ cup thinly sliced green onions (optional)

1 egg (optional)

1 12-inch piece of yuba (I use the dried version found in Chinese markets)

1 tbsp minced ginger

1 tbsp shoyu

1 cup of water or dashi

The night before making the pasta, soak the dried yuba in the dashi, ginger and shoyu – totally submerge to soften the yuba. Once the yuba has rehydrated, slice into thin strips and set aside.

Infuse the soy milk by steeping the soy milk on the lowest burner setting (or 150 degrees) with the Parmesan cheese and packet of dashi powder for about 1 hour. If the temperature goes above 160 degrees, the soy milk will curdle (or form tofu) – if this happens, you can simply use a handheld blender to reincorporate the soy solids. After removing the dashi packet and solid Parmesan rind pieces, add the shoyu to complete the sauce.

Edamame pasta only takes 5 minutes of soaking in pre-boiled water – drain the pasta then quickly pan fry the edamame and sliced yuba with seasoning of your choice – I used garlic salt and black pepper in a little canola oil.

Toss the pasta and edamame/yuba mixture in the soymilk sauce then garnish with an egg yolk or green onions if desired.

Expand Your Soy Horizon

As I’ve mentioned over the past decade, soy is so much more than just edamame, tofu and soy milk. And just in the realm of tofu, it spans the range from custardy soft tofu all the way up to super firm tofu which makes a great animal protein substitute and the firmness range doesn’t even speak to the wide range of pre-spiced tofu products that you can find at chain supermarkets whether it’s traditional Asian flavors like miso, 5-spice or teriyaki to Moroccan, Mexican and curry flavored varieties. Here’s a quick list of those other soy products to expand culinary applications.

Yuba: The dried surface film when making tofu, it’s necessary when making jai but can also be rehydrated with flavored liquid then sliced and pan fried in place of other animal proteins.

Okara: The insoluble ground soybean particles left after filtering the soy milk, it’s high in fiber and can be used in place of breadcrumbs in meatloaf and also in baked goods. Generally available fresh in Hawaii, it can be found as a dried product on the internet.

Aburaage: These deep-fried pillows of tofu are usually stuffed with rice for the traditional inarizushi but can also be filled with any solid filling and served as-is or baked for a soy-based version of stuffed peppers or pasta shells.

Natto: Steamed soybeans fermented with B. subtilis bacteria; I’ve made appetizers to entrees to desserts with this most polarizing soy product. I only started consuming natto in the past 12 years so I recommend trying it if you haven’t and you may also end up loving it like me!

Tempeh: Created in Indonesia from steamed soybeans fermented with Rhizopus mold, I usually grill or smoke this compressed soybean product then cut it into bite sized pieces and toss it into multi-grain salads to fortify the salad with plant-based protein.

Kinako: I originally avoided this roasted soybean powder for my Oshogatsu mochi because I often would inhale the powder leading to uncontrolled coughing and opted for shoyu and sugar as my preferred dipping sauce. Until I had a food epiphany at State Bird Provisions just outside of SF’s Japantown. I ALWAYS recreate their persimmon with kinako dressing (recipe found in their cookbook and the internet) when Fuyu persimmons are in season!

So, if you have no plans on the 14th, head on over to Saint Mary’s Cathedral at Gough and Geary for the 13th Annual Northern Soy and Tofu Festival from 11:00am until 5:00pm on Saturday, June 14th. This year’s festival features a Soy-Ful Youth Art Contest as well as food vendors, a raffle, live performances and audience participation contests!