(Recipe) Homemade Natto
Ingredients (400 g):
400 g of dried soybeans
1/2 to 1 pack of natto
Water (enough to soak the soybeans)
Dried Soybeans
Directions:
1. Soak soybeans in water for 6-8 hours.
2. Cook soybeans in a pressure cooker or pod until they get very soft. Bring the soybeans to a boil, and then skim off the greyish foam that will rise to the surface of the water. Top up with additional water from time to time, if it seems to be cooking off, and skim off any grey foam.
3. Quickly mix the frozen natto with the freshly boiled soybeans using chopsticks.
4. After mixing, it looks like this. When frozen natto is heated, the bacillus subtilis natto becomes active. The trick is to mix while the boiled soybeans are still hot.
5. Divide what you made in step 4 into plastic containers.
6. Cover with kitchen paper for ventilation and to absorb moisture. The process from step 3 to here should be quick.
7. Keep it in a slightly warmer place such as on top of the boiler for 24 hours to ferment.
8. Take the kitchen paper and cover with a regular lid. At this point, the natto is still not very sticky.
9. Store it in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
10. It's ready. A small amount of natto multiplies. As time goes by, the bacillus subtilis natto will become acclimated to the natto and it will taste even better.
Tip: The timing of softening varies depending on the type of dried soybeans.
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(Recipe) Miso Bean Sprouts Natto
Ingredients (2 servings): 1 pack of natto 1 piece of aburaage deep-fried tofu 1/4 pack of moyashi bean sprouts Scallions to your liking 1 tbsp of miso 2 tbsp of water
Aburaage Deep-Fried Tofu
Directions: 1. Cut the aburaage deep-fried tofu into strips. Chop the scallions. 2. Wash and drain the moyashi bean sprouts and aburaage lightly, wrap them in aluminum foil cut into 10"/25 cm squares, and bake them in a toaster oven for 7 minutes. Unwrap the wrapper over the aburaage and bake for another 7 minutes until it gets burned light brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. 3. Mix miso, water, and natto in a bowl. 4. When the moyashi and aburaage from step 1 cooled down to human skin temperature, top with the natto and miso mixture made in step 2 and garnish with scallions. Tip: Grilling the moyashi in a toaster oven removes the moisture from them, making the flavor deeper and richer than boiling or steaming them. The flavor of this moyashi goes well with miso natto. It is also good as a side dish with alcohol.
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(Recipe) Negi Pork Natto
Ingredients (2 servings):
1 package of natto
3.5 oz./100 g of thin sliced pork
7.8"/20 cm Tokyo Negi Leek
Black pepper to taste
1 to 2 tbsp of soy sauce
Some oil
Directions: 1. Cut the pork into small pieces. Cut the leek into thin slices. 2. Put a little oil in a frying pan and saute pork and Tokyo negi leek. When cooked, add black pepper and soy sauce, season to taste, and turn off the heat. Place a damp rag under the pan and allow the contents of the pan to cool. 3. When the contents of the pan have cooled to human's temperature, put the natto and mix inside the pan. Less washing up is required! Tip: Black pepper and natto go very well together. The black pepper removes the smell of natto, so it is recommended even for those who do not like natto. Also, by taking oil and natto at the same time, you can absorb the nutrients contained in natto.
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We'll introduce a trivia and the origin of natto in the next newsletter!
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There is a lot of food items, housewares, stationery, and gifts available at the store and our online store, Maido! Kairashi Shop, where you can place your order for shipping or store pickup! Happy shopping. :)
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