Miso-making Bootcamp!! Day 2 - MISO = SUPER LIVING FOOD

Miso-making Boot camp Day 2! 

On Day 1, I cleansed soy beans and soaked soy beans till hydrated.

A dry soy bean vs. soak soy bean.  27 hous of soaking... did I over soak it?

 Now, cook soy beans in low-heat to soften its texture to the point that you can mash a bean with your thumb and pinky.

Soya beans bought from Greek spice store may not be the best for miso-making?

It's roughly supposed to take 4 hours of simmering, but my beans did not get softened... so continued to simmer for total 10 hours.  Beans were still tough.  Is this a sign of disaster?

Anyway, next step is to smash soy beans with hands... well, beans were too tough to breakdown with my hands.  So, I used a blender for mashing process.

Blend soy beans little by little

Hydrate KOJI with luke warter for 30 minutes (if you are using dried KOJI).  

Do not use hot water as KOJI is alive.  Heat will damage living culture in KOJI.

Then, mix hydrated KOJI and salt.  Mix well.

It is important to blend well as this process will impact fermentaiton process later on.  Remember these guys are ALIVE.

Then, blend it with mashed soy beans WELL. 

Mixture of KOJI and soy produces the aroma of miso.  So intoxicating.

 Finally, cover miso with plastic wrap.  Then, place a weight on top of miso.

Macrobiotic books in Japanese are a weight for miso (^^)

Keep miso in room temperature for 10 months, and you will see the result.  During the 10-month, fermentation will gradually take place.  Let LIVING culture in miso do a job.  Now, you sit back and relax (^^)

 Meanwhile, here another attempt of today, SPICY ROSEMARY TOFU.

A key of this recipe is to let tofu soak up all juices, spices, and olive oil follow by intense frying with HIGH heat. 

Ingredients:

Mixed hot peppers, as you wish.  I used 1 tiny Thai Chili bomb and 1 Japanese red pepper.  Chopped

1 Medium-firm tofu = 500g, drained well.

1/2 small shallot, sliced.

3 cloves of garlic, sliced.

1/2 extra virgin olive oil

1tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

Rosemary, as you wish.

Methodology:

Put all ingredients in a same container - place tofu at the bottom, then add a layer of veggies and spices.  So, tofu will absorb all juices coming from then.  Let it rest in a fridge for 2-3 days for the soaking process.

Finally cook all veggies in a pan then add tofu in high heat. 

Aroma of GARLIC and ROSEMARY and heat from Thai Chili BOMB = irresistible!

Thank you for reading my blog!

One recipe, One day!!

Have a nice day!!!