Tempeh

In Indonesia, you can buy tempe for 1000 rupiah (+/- 1 cent USD) per pack. But in US, you don't get that kind of luxury - it is around 2,5 dollars per pack. And the taste is not that good. Maybe it's the result of being refrigerated too long.


So our friends, Iday and Olive, told us that they had successfully made home-made tempeh, and they generously shared some of their tempe starter (ragi tempe) to us. Good thing they did, because now my husband and I get to eat our fresh home-made tempeh!


Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup whole dry soybeans
- 1/2 teaspoon tempeh starter (ragi tempe)
- 1 plastic bag quartz size
- water for soaking and boiling the soybean


Soak the soybeans for 1 day. If you use whole soybeans you should split them by squeezing them with a kneading motion. Stir gently causing the hulls to rise to the surface, then pour off water and hulls into a strainer. Add fresh water and repeat until most hulls are removed. Don't worry if a few hulls remain attached.


Put the beans in a cooking pot and add enough water to cover them. Cook for 30 min. Drain off the water and dry the soybeans by continue heating them in the pot on medium heat for a few minutes and until the beans are dry. Allow the soybeans to cool down to below 35°C.


Sprinkle the soybeans with tempeh starter. Mix with a clean spoon for about 1 minute to distribute the tempeh starter evenly. It's very important to mix the tempeh starter very well: it reduces the risk for spoilage and the fermentation will be faster.


Take 1 plastic bag quartz size and perforate them with holes at a distance of about 1 cm by a skewer. This will allow the mould to breathe.


Put the soybean into the plastic bag. Press them flat, making sure that the total thickness of the beans is max 3 cm. Place the packed beans at a warm place for about 36- 48 hours during which the tempeh fermentation takes place. Then the container should be filled completely with white mycelium and the entire contents can be lifted out as a whole piece.