Homemade Tempeh
| Fermented food recipes
Ingredients
- 400 grams (14 ounces) dried soybeans
- Water
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon tempeh starter (or ragi tempe)
Instructions
- Cover soybeans with water, and soak overnight or at least 12 hours.
- Remove the hulls (i.e. skins) from the beans by rubbing between both hands (see notes).
- Skim off most of the hulls either by washing them away or by using a skimmer or strainer. Some hulls may be left behind without affecting tempeh quality.
- Cook beans until just tender, not mushy; undercooked is best for tempeh (see notes).
- Drain beans, and spread to dry somewhere with airflow (see notes).
- Collect beans into a bowl, and mix in the cider vinegar. This acidifies the beans slightly, inhibiting unwanted spoilage organisms during fermentation.
- Sprinkle the tempeh starter over the beans and mix in well (see notes).
- Pack the beans loosely into banana leaves, zip-lock bags, or shallow dishes for incubating. Zip-lock bags must be punctured at roughly 1 cm (½ inch) intervals to keep oxygen up to the fermenting beans.
- Load the soon-to-be tempeh into your incubator, preferably on racks that will allow air circulation. An electric oven with a light on makes a pretty good incubator, because the light provides just enough heat to keep the beans warm while the fermentation starts happening.
- Incubate for 12 hours or so at around 30–35°C (86–95°F) with a heat source (unless it's already that hot where you are).
- After 12 hours, remove or turn off the heat source - the fermenting beans will be making their own heat, and may overheat if you keep them too warm.
- Monitor periodically from then on, and remove when the beans are totally consumed by fluffy white tempeh with no gaps.
- After fermentation is complete, serve straight away in your favourite tempeh recipe, refrigerate for two to three days, or freeze for up to two months.