Soy Bean Yin-and-yang

Today, I felt like sharing something very peaceful, health and traditional, something that would combine two of my latest news. The sad one was that I returned from a wonderful trip to Japan :-( which is still on my mind and the good one is I am recovering from a whole week of being variously sick (it sounds even more sick, I know)...

So, I decided to go for a simple healthy ingredient, that has become my everyday friend - Soy beans. I have large daily intakes of soy, whether it is soy milk, tofu, yuba, okara or soy flour.... Since I am not much of a meat eater (and even less of a dairy eater), soy is my ´daily bread´.

I made this dish a while ago, when I still lived with my sister and we first started to experiment with home-made tofu and soy milk and had tons of fun with it. Today, I look at this dish and I smile. I remember being indecisive about which recipe to make, and since they were so simple we were like, ....eh, let´s just make both of them.

And then we did it, visually presented soft cinnamony soya in contrast with salty and crunchy peppery soya - both of the flavors sophistically united with chili, of course.

The picture says it all:

SOY BEAN YIN-AND-YANG:

prep time: 1 hrs (+overnight soaking time)

• soya beans
• soya sauce
• leek or spring onion
• Sugar
• Five spice powder
  
• chili powder
• salt

• cucumber
• soya sauce
• cumin seeds
  
• chili powder
• salt
  
• black pepper
• oil

*Note: For the simplicity of the dish, I decided to skip the measurements. We all know how much chili we can handle ;-)

Soak the soya beans overnight, strain and wash under running water. Divide in half. Heat oil in one pot, fry leek, add sugar, five spice, salt and soya sauce. Add one cup soya beans and cover with water. Bring to boil and let simmer slowly for 1 hour or until tender.

Meanwhile boil another cup of soya beans in salt water for half an hour. Then strain and set aside. Heat oil in a pan, fry soya beans together with cumin, chili and soya sauce. After ten minutes, add chopped cucumbers, fry for two or three minutes the most. Cucumber should stay crunchy and fresh. Adjust flavor with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Garnish with fresh herbs and enjoy the combination.

I would love to submit this recipe to Cate´s ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday Event. I know you haven't mentioned soy beans in your explanatory post, but they really are super good for ya. Here is a flavonoid-friendly article I thought you might be interested in.