Homemade fresh yuba

Step 1: Pour 4 ¼ cups unsweetened soy milk, at least 7% protein into a wide frying pan or sauté pan, at least 24 cm across, to a depth of about 2 cm. The wider the surface, the bigger the sheets.

Step 2: Set it over low heat and warm to about 176°F: steam rises and the surface trembles, but nothing bubbles. Keep it there. On a gas hob, use a heat diffuser if you have one.

Step 3: After 6–8 minutes a matt, wrinkled skin forms across the top. Run a knife round the edge of the pan to free it.

Step 4: Slide a chopstick or thin skewer under the middle of the skin and lift it straight up so the sheet hangs in two halves. Drape it over a plate or a second chopstick laid across a bowl. A new skin will form in another 6–8 minutes.

Step 5: Common mistake: turning up the heat to speed things up. The milk boils, the skin turns thick and blistered and the bottom scorches. Low and steady gives thin, silky sheets.

Step 6: Keep lifting sheets until the milk becomes thick and creamy and stops forming skins, usually 5–7 sheets. Pour the remaining rich milk into a cup to drink, or use it in a soup.

Step 7: Mix 2 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tsp wasabi paste. Fold the warm yuba onto small plates with 4 shiso or mitsuba leaves and ⅛ oz fresh ginger and eat straight away, dipped in the wasabi soy.