Natto

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?JMBVG 4 November 2012 Natto
A simple method of making Natto, fermented soil beans, which are supposed to have beneficial nutritional effects. Eating is an acquired experience.

Soy beans are washed, boiled for about 15 minutes, rinsed, then pressure cooked at 15 PSI for an hour. The beans must be thoroughly cooked and quite soft, when squashed between thumb and forefinger.Soy beans always retain their shape after cooking. The water in the pressure cooker does not touch the beans, meaning they are steam cooked.Ingredients are 200 ml of water, one tablespoon of molasses, one eight teaspoon of non-iodized salt, one mg of natto spores.Mixing temperature should be from 40C to max of 60C. All utensils used should be sterilized with boiling water to protect the spores from contamination.The pressure cooked beans are placed on a tray about two levels deep and the ingredients are poured onto the beans and mixed thoroughly. The tray is covered with clear wrap and air holes made in the surface. The tray is then placed in an incubator set at 40C for 24 hours. The beans are ready when there is a spider web type of sticky white mesh permeating the mixture.The finished product is kept in the refrigerator for about a week. Ageing is touted to improve flavour.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?JKIBF 11 November 2012 Natto Pureed.

To make ingesting the natto more appetizing, it was decided to puree the material.A bowl is eaten for breakfast daily. A litre of dried soy beans makes about four litres after processing.There appears to be plenty of anecdotal material as to the benefits of natto, with few if any clinical studies like many foods.Processing the soy beans into natto is a simple process.

 

[digitS']

Would you say that Natto is Tempeh or something like it? I suppose the only "fermented" soy product that I've had is soysauce. I am an admirer of things Japanese just as I'm admirer of things "ethnic" - meaning that setting my own culture aside now and then has opened a whole new world of meaningful experiences!

That interest has led me to growing soybeans for edamame! I've also used them for tofu. I'm really "okay" with tofu and made use of it even before I began growing my own beans. It is a fair amount of bother and not what I think of as an everyday food, altho' I suppose it could be.

Not a rice grower but I decided to see what I could do with rice and soybeans:

I've also gotta say that I don't always pay close attention to admonitions from the TEG folks. Confession -- I was unanimously told NOT to use plastic wrap for steaming, I'd already used it!

The breakfast cereal above was cooked 3 times - 4 times if you count the microwaving used to heat it this morning. The rice/soy cakes came out of the freezer.

About the plastic wrap: I'd already seen Hubert Keller use it on a PBS cooking show! Later, I saw Jacques Pepin using it. I mean, he used to cook with Julia Child! Julia can be held responsible for all sorts of my behavior in the kitchen . . .

Anyway, the rice/soy cakes are made something like rice/salmon cakes. Since soybeans take quite a bit longer to cook than salmon, I had to come up with some different plans. No problem - there are countless ways of making rice cakes all around the world!

After soaking about 5 cups of rice to 1 cup of dry soybeans, I rinsed the hulls off the beans and put the rice and beans in the food processor. They then went into a pot and I cooked them together like mush. They were not taken quite to the "finished" stage. To shape them into patties, I allowed the mix to cool a bit and slapped down spoonfuls onto plastic wrap. In Southeast Asia this would have gone into banana leaves. The wrapped rice/soy went into a steamer for about a half an hour.

After steaming, I could fry these cakes like salmon cakes. They didn't taste anything like salmon cakes, however . They tasted like a hot cereal . . . So, that's what I've been doing with them - eating them for breakfast.

I plan on growing more soybeans in 2013 and will likely grow flour corn again, as well. Making cornbread with flour corn worked just fine for me last time even tho' I don't own a mill. My idea is to substitute corn for the rice in the rice/soy cakes. I don't really have an idea what the balance of amino acids should be for complete protein but think that I'm kind of headed in that direction. Whatever the case, I've made some pretty good stuff for breakfast !

Steve

 

[Durgan]

Some people have problems with soy. The spit seems to be about 50-50. The same applies to wheat. Personally, I have no problem with either. I eat the soy without processing too much, but have experimented with the various forms. Edamame I don't enjoy similar to beans sprouts. Rice I use periodically in various forms, but prefer the wheat. Heated plastic wrap or any plastic, I avoid.

Without fail my breakfast is always the same, bowl of rolled large flake oats with skim milk (a bit of black strap molasses), and a bowl of soy beans pureed. Now usually Natto.I can go all day on this if not doing too strenuous work.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?PUFKP 7 May 2012 Breakfast
My standard breakfast soy beans and oats with skim milk. Simple, quick, nourishing, and palatable.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?QIUDU 22 November 2011 Cooking Soy Beans

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?CHGEJ 24 January 2012 Soy Milk and Soy Cream.
One litre of soy beans were processed into soy milk and soy cream. Method is wash the beans, boil for ten minutes, rinse. Blend until a fine texture, place in a tall pot and stir occasionally to remove all air. Put mixture through a fine mesh screen. The desired product is called soy milk.
Put the residue from the screening through a juicer, I happen to have a Champion. The desired product from the juicer is quite thick, which I call soy cream.
The residue from the juicer was made into Pilot Bread using dark rye flour.
Both the milk and cream could be mixed together to make a thicker milk. Or the cream could be flavoured to taste and used exactly like typical cream.
The residue from the juicer could be toasted in the oven or dehydrated to make a choice addition to any breakfast cereal. I chose to make Pilot bread with dark rye flour.
All the soy bean ingredients were utilized. Now compare this product to that insipid stuff called soy milk from a supermarket. There is no comparison.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ATJFY 23 September 2008. Soy milk and Tofu making.
A simple method of making tofu. Pictures depict the method. Annotations are at the bottom of the photos.

 

[digitS']

Very much as I do it Durgan: 1/10/2011 Tofu! (link) What remains after the soymilk is removed is toasted in the oven and given to the backyard chickens .

I checked: Pilot bread = Hard tack

Wikipedia says that "Pilot bread" went to the pilot while "seabiscuit" went to the sailors. The word "tack" used here may have nothing to do with the steering of a ship but I don't know.

Steve

 

[baymule]

Durgan, do you grow your own soybeans? I never knew how soy milk or tofu were made, both of which I have purchased from the store. (hangs head, digs toe in dirt.......) yes, I have drank that "insipid stuff called soymilk" from the grocery store.

 

[Durgan]

Durgan, do you grow your own soybeans? I never knew how soy milk or tofu were made, both of which I have purchased from the store. (hangs head, digs toe in dirt.......) yes, I have drank that "insipid stuff called soymilk" from the grocery store.

I do not grow the soy beans.I eat about 60 pounds a year and buy them in 20 pound bags. Now I can purchase none GMO, but am not really particular.