Tempeh maken (Engels)
Tempehhas a rich, unique, delicious flavor and texture. I learned how to make tempeh from my friend and neighbor Mike Bondy, who learned itfrom another friend, Ashley Ironwood, at "Food for Life," a food skills, information, and polities gathering held every summer at the Sequatchie Valley Institute (S.V.I.) near Chattanooga, Tennessee. I've taughtmiso-making and sauerkraut-making at Food for Life, and others have offered various other fermentation workshops (among many other interesting topics). I highly recommend this event. Itdraws an eclecticcrowd of activists, gardeners, and cooks. For information, you can contact S.V.I at Route 1, Box 304, Whitwell, T 37397, (423) 949-5922, Incidentally, Moonshadow, the community where S.V.Iis located, has some of the most beautiful rustic handcrafted buildings I've seen. Tempeh-making involves the most sustained temperature control of anything in this book, but it is well worth the effort.
Tempeh also requires spores of a mold called Rhyzopusoligosporus. Spores are available inexpensively fromthe Tempeh Lab or G.E.M. Cultures; contact information is listed in the Resources section.
The Tempeh Lab is located at the Farm, another Tennessee intentional community. When I meet people and tell them that I live in a community in Tennessee, they often ask if it's the Farm. The Farm was the most famous of the hippie communes of the 1970. At one time it had 1,200 people, and it became a media sensation. Beacon of counter-cultural tastes, the Farm was instrumental in popularizing soy foods in the United States. The New Farm vegetarian Cookbook, edited by Louise Hagler and Dorothy Bates, is now a classic text in vegetariancircles. It is still in print and contains derailed tempeh-making directions, from which my own are adapted,
Maintaining a temperature around 85 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (29 to 32 degrees Celsius) for twenty-four hours can be tricky. Making tempeh when the weather is hot is the easiest method. Other times, I generally use the oven of our propane stove with just the pilot light on, with a Mason jar ring propping the door open just enough so that it doesn't get too hot. I've also incubated larger quantities of tempeh in the greenhouse on a sunny day, then in a small room somewhatoverheated by a wood stove at night. Be sure to maintain good aircirculationaroundtheincubating tempeh. Innovate, make it work.
TIMEFRAME: 2 days
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
Grain grinder
Clean towels
Zip-lock bags (3 large ones) or a baking tray and aluminum foil
INGREDIENTS (for about 3 pounds/1,5 kilograms of tempeh):
2,5 cups/625 milliliters soybeans
2 tablespoons/30 milliliters vinegar
1 teaspoon/5 milliliters tempeh spore
PROCESS:
1. Crack the soybeans in a grain mill, coarsely so that every bean is broken but in just a few large pieces. This makes the hulls fall off the beans when they are cooked, and gives more surface area for the spore to grow on. Removing the hullsis the critical part. In the absence of a grain grinder, you can soak the beans overnight or until they are soft, cook them a little,
then knead them with your hands to loosen the hulls before cooking themthe rest of the way.
2. Boil beans, without salt, until they are just barely soft enough to eat. For soybeans, 1 to 1,5 hours should do it. Do notcook them assoft as you would want them to be for eating. The fermentation wil1 continue to soften the beans. As you cook and stirthe soybeans, their hulls will rise to the surface of the pot in a foamy froth. Skim off the froth with the hulls and discard.
3. As the beans boil, take a few zip-lock bags and poke holes in them with a fork, every couple of inches. The bags provide a form for the tempeh to fill, and the holes ensure good aircirculation, which is necessary for the spore to thrive. You can reuse the bags by c1eaning them after use, drying them thoroughly, and storing them in a special place. Alternatively, you can form tempeh in a baking tray with a lip of at least 3/4 inch (1.5 centimeters), then
cover it with foil with fork holes punched every couple of inches.
4. When the beans are ready, strain them and spread them, or a portion of them at a time, on a clean towel. Use the towel to dry them. The most common problem with tempeh is excess rnoisture, which yields a foul, inedible product.
Swaddle and pat the cooked soybeans until most of the surface moisture has been absorbed into the towel. Use a second towel if necessary. It is rare that we have theopportunity to be so intimate with soybeans. Enjoy it.
5. Place the cooked and dried soybeans in a bowl. Make sure they are no warmer than body temperature, which they are not likely to be after the towel-drying. Add the vinegar and mix. Add the spore and mix well so the spore is evenly distributedaround the soybeans. The acidity of thevinegar gives the spore a competitive edge over bacteria that are present in the air.
6. Spoon the mixture into the bags with holes, spreading it evenly, sealing the bags, and placing them on oven racks or wherever they will incubate. Likewise, if you're using a baking pan, spread the mixture evenly and cover with foil with holes.
7. Incubate at about 85 to 90°F (29 to 32°C) for about 24 hours. No dramatic changes occur during the first half of thefermentation period. I like to start the process in the afternoon, let it spend the night unattended, then watch the exciting drama of the later period. What happens is that hairy white mold begins to form in all the space between the soybeans. It begins to generate heat, as well, so keep an eye on the temperature and adjust the incubationspace as necessary. The mold gradually thickens until it forms a cohesive mat holding the beans together. The tempehshould have a pleasant, earthy odor, like button mushrooms or babies. The processgenerally takes 20 to 30 hours, considerably longer at cooler temperatures. Eventually, the mold will start to show parches of gray or black coloration, originating
near the air holes. Once it has large parches of gray or black, it is ready.
8. Remove the tempeh from your incubator and from its forms. Allow itto cool
toroom temperature before refrigerating, then refrigerate without stacking. If you stack tempeh before it is cool, the mold will continue to grow and generate heat, even in the refrigerator.
9. Tempeh is generally not eaten raw.
Sauté slices of it plain to discover its unique flavor.
Black-eyed Pea/Oat / Seaweed Tempeh
The tempeh recipe above is the most basic variety. You can incorporate any kinds of
legumes, as well as grains and other goodies, into your tempeh. Here's a recipe for
black-eyed pea/oat/seaweed tempeh.
TIMEFRAME: 2 days
INGREDIENTS (for about 3 pounds/ 1,5 kilograms of tempeh):
2 cups/500 milliliters black-eyed pens
1 cup/250 milliliters whole oat groats
2 4-inch/6-centimeter strips digitata kelp or kombu
2 tablespoons/30 milliliters vinegar
1 teaspoon/5 milliliters tempeh spore (see Resources for sources)
PROCESS:
1. Soak the black-eyed peas and oat groats (separately) overnight.
2. Before cooking, knead and crush the softened beans with your hands to loosen the hulls.
3. Cook the black-eyed peas in a good deal of water so hulls will float to the top and be easy to skim off. Do not cook beans long. For soaked black-eyed peas, about 10 minutes of boiling should suffice. They do not need to be soft enough for a pleasant eating experience; the mold
will further soften them. If they lose their form, there will not be air spaces between beans and the tempeh process will be impeded. The general rule of thumb is to cook beans to the point where they are just barely edible, meaning you can sink your teeth through them. Figure no more than 25 percent of normal cooking time.
4. Meanwhile, cook the oats separately, in just 1,5 cups (375 milliliters) of waterper cup (250 milliliters) of grain. Add the seaweed, cut up with scissors, to the grain. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and cook until the water has been absorbed, about 20 minutes. You can add any kind of grain to tempeh: just cook it on the dry side so it maintains its form and doesn't add excess moisture tothe tempeh. Cool the grain with the lid off.
5. Strain the bean and towel-dry them, as explained in the tempeh recipe above.
Alternatively, you can simply cool the beans in a colander, stirring periodically to release steam (and with it moisture).
6. When the beans and grains are around body temperature, mix them together, add the vinegar, mix some more, add the spore, and mix yet again. Then proceed with incubation as detailed in the previous recipe, starting with step 6.