I just want a plain original Indonesia tempeh ... the most simple one without any twist ...
Is it too much to ask?
For those not familiar with this will ask "what is tempeh?"
Tempeh is a traditional Indonesian food made from soybeans. It is a fermented food, utilising a special type of mould that forms a cake. When fresh, tempeh has a nice mushroom-like smell and flavour.
Several months ago, due to my curiosity after searching from Internets and asking around I find the easy way to make it. What you need are soy bean, ragi (tempeh starter), flour, time, and your patience.
I will show step by step with the photo my own version making tempeh.
Hopefully anybody can use it.
Good luck ..
Ingredients:
1 lb dry soy beans (hulled or de-hulled)
1 tbsp tempeh starter
2 tbsp flour (any kind, ex. rice flour)
Process:
1. Cover soybeans with water, and soak overnight or at least 12 hours
(In this pictures - after > 6 hrs soaking)
2. Remove the hulls (i.e. skins) from the beans by rubbing between both hands.
Ready to remove the skin
3. Boil skinless soy beans approximately for 15 to 25 minutes until just tender, not mushy. Note: undercooked is best for tempeh
Remove white foam from tempeh.
4. Drain beans, and spread to dry somewhere with airflow. OR
Saute in very low heat clean skinless soy beans to remove moisture.
5. Mix in the bowl tempeh starter and flour.
6. Sprinkle evenly item no. 5 with drained/dry soy bean.
7. Pack the beans loosely into zip-lock bags.
Note: Zip-lock bags must be punctured at roughly 1 -2 inch intervals to keep oxygen up to the fermenting beans.
8. Keep place the packed beans in an incubator at 75 to 80 °F or 25 to 30°C or at a warm place for about 24-48 hours or until the container is filled completely with white mycelium and the entire contents can be lifted out as a whole piece. A simple incubator can be made with putting a light bulb in an old fridge. Depending on the room temperature bulbs with different wattage (15W, 25W, ..) can be used, but remember that the tempeh will also produce some heat on its own.
After 24 hours.
After 48 hours and ready
There are several things I learned about this process:
1. Make sure the process very clean. No soap or deleterious material exists in the process.
2. Different kind of beans will work but the taste might not the same with the original Indonesian tempeh.
3. Different kind of flour will effect the end colour tempeh.
4. Make sure to use starter from dependable source to make sure the type of the fungus (Rhizopus oligosporus) will grow between soy bean.
5. The fresh tempeh will feel warm and will have a pleasant mushroom flavour. The finished tempeh can be store in refrigerator for 7 days or a few months in the freezer.
Happy making tempeh ...
Ian's Mom
