By Noni - Tempehtation
•
July 17, 2020
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 25C, there is no need to cover the beans with tea towels or an electric blanket. Just leave the batch in a safe place. My family loved this tempeh, which I made using almonds. I marinated the finished tempeh in a BBQ sauce before grilling and it was delicious. As the texture is nutty I am sure it would be possible to make tasty sweet sweet snacks out of this. Be creative! Ingredients: 200 grams of raw almonds 2 tablespoons of 5% acidity white vinegar, apple cider vinegar or juice of a lemon 2 grams of Tempehtation starter (please use the tempeh starter according to the instructions on the label) Clean tap water Equipment required: A large pot to boil the almonds or an Instant Pot A large strainer A dehydrator to dry the beans or a n electric fan plus some tea towels A satay stick to make holes in the plastic bag (or a large needle if you have one). Sanitise the stick or needle by pouring hot boiling water on it and leaving to dry for 1 hour Plastic zip lock bags (these can be reused) or biodegradable plastic bags A blanket or tea towels to keep the tempeh warm An incubator of your choice (check our DIY incubator page for inspiration). Step by step: Soak the almonds overnight The next morning, rinse the almonds until the water runs clear under the tap Cook for 25-30 minutes. I use an Instant Pot Strain off the water and leave to cool Transfer to a plate, remove the skins and split the almonds in two by squeezing them Sprinkle on the vinegar Dry the almonds using a dehydrator. Spread them out and make sure they are not on top of each other. Set at 40 C for 30 minutes. Alternatively spread them out on tea towels and use an electric fan for around 1.5 hours If using the fan, after 1 hour check the almonds. If they are still moist to the touch, dry for a little longer. It is essential that there is no more surface moisture on the beans Once you are confident that the almonds are dry to touch, transfer to a clean bowl Add 1 teaspoon of rice flour and mix through. The purpose of rice flour is to absorb any excess moisture that might still exist on the surface of the beans Add 1 teaspoon of Tempehtation starter and mix thoroughly Transfer to a ziplock bag or use a container. Check the ideas here Pierce both sides of the bag with a clean satay stick or needle Place the bag on an airy tray as shown in the video. Air circulation is crucial. Flatten the bag and make sure that every corner is filled to stop early black spores forming. Make sure that the batch is no more than 2.5 cm thick as this will help to speed up the fermentation Check the temperature in the room. In the summer when the temperature around 24C, the only thing needed to help the fermentation is a clean blanket or several tea towels. An incubator is not required Leave the bag in a safe place and check again in 10 hours When condensation is visible, remove the blanket/tea towels. Leave the batch to ferment on its own Check again in 24 hours. If the spores are visible that's a great sign. Leave for another day The tempeh is ready when the whole batch can be lifted in one piece and is covered in white spores. The tempeh texture will be firm, taste nutty but will have no aroma. Please note that this batch has some black spores forming. This is normal so do not worry. Black spores form when there are airy pockets inside the bag that are not filled with beans. This is due to excess oxygen inside the bag. I will create a separate blog to explain this as there have been many questions sent to me on this subject by email and via our social media. Please check the video tutorial below for my step by step instructions. Any questions? We are happy to help. Our email address is on our homepage.