Once upon a time I was a very busy girl and the thought of making traditional soybeans tempeh truly killed my appetite. So I found a shortcut by using a corn grinder than can be found on Amazon or eBay. This gadget saved me 2 hours of dehulling by hand. Hallelujah!
PLEASE NOTE: This tutorial is for colder countries where the temperature in your house is no more than 22C. If your room temperature is above 27C, there is no need to cover the beans with tea towels or electric blanket. Just leave the batch in a safe place.
How do I know when the house is around 27C? If I walk around the house in a tank top, or my underwear, or bikini. Heatwave, baby!
Equipment required:
Once the beans have been cracked and split, shake the beans container and the dry hulls should move to the top. Soak the beans overnight (minimum of 6 hours) The beans will expand and the hulls will float to the top. Stir gently and scoop them up. This is the most exhausting step of this tutorial, but hang in there because the result will be worth it.
Pour out the beans into a strainer and rinse the beans until the water runs clear. Remove any hulls that are visible. Don't worry if a few hulls remain attached.
Put the beans into a pan with enough water to cover them. Add the 5 tablespoons of vinegar and cook for 20 minutes (if using induction or gas hob) or 30 minutes if using other hobs. As you can see from the above picture, I have scooped up further hulls from the pan.
This is the result after boiling 20 to 30 minutes. Most hulls have been removed.
Drain off the water in a strainer and leave the beans to cool.
Use an electric fan to dry the beans. Turn the beans roughly every 20 minutes to ensure that they dry evenly. Drying may take up to 2 hours. Remove any visible hulls and then add the rice flour and mix thoroughly.
Sprinkle Tempehtation starter evenly to reduce the risk of spoilage and to increase the speed of fermentation.
Transfer the beans into the ziplock bags. Fill them up, seal the bag and then perforate using the clean satay stick at a distance of about 1cm. This will allow the spores to breathe and thrive. Press the bag flat with the thickness no more than 2.5cm.
Place the packed beans on a clean tray and wrap it inside a large thick towel.Ensure that the minimum room temperature is at 19-20C. I set my incubator temperature (an electric blanket) at 27C. If the temperature inside your incubator exceed 32C and unsteady then the tempeh might be ruined. Therefore try to keep the incubator temperature between 27C-31C and steady.
After 20 hours, some tiny condensation will appear. Great news! Remove the towel and leave the beans in a safe place undisturbed.
Hello beautiful! After 36 hours the soybean tempeh is ready. Store in the fridge for 3 days, freeze or cook straight away. Congratulations!
Tempehtation is the trading name of KMGR Trading Limited.
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