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Miso Soup
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We’re keen on keeping healthy nowadays and studies have shown that
probiotics are an essential, natural form of defence for our bodies. With more than 400 types of
bacteria in the digestive tract, we need to ensure there is a balance of good and bad bacteria.
This is all part of creating a healthy balance of microflora in our stomachs. Being opposite to
antibiotics, probiotics can help restore normal activity in your system that is sometimes caused by
a prolonged use of antibiotics or even poor diet.
One other huge plus for these friendly bacteria is that they are easy to make yourself at home, as
well as getting them in a pre-packaged form in the shops. We've seen that fermenting is an
easy way of making foods high in probiotics at home. Apart from fermenting vegetables like
cabbage, carrots and cucumbers, you can also ferment various bean pastes. Soy beans are
especially suitable for fermentation and creating probiotics as they are rich in amino acids that
aid digestion. Some examples using soy beans are described below:
Miso
This is a type of Japanese seasoning; a thick paste made from fermenting rice, soy beans, barley,
and kōjikin (a fungus commonly used in sake and soy sauce). Soy sauce is also commonly used
in the making of miso. Some miso are even made from chickpeas, corn and the ever popular
quinoa. As a seasoning, it’s used in soups, sauces, spreads and in pickling meats and some
vegetables. You can also have miso soup, which is eaten regularly by many Japanese with
rice. It is quite a salty seasoning but is rich in minerals and vitamins, as well as being
high in proteins.
There can be quite a variation in the type of miso you buy. It depends on quite a few things,
from the ingredients used to how the miso is fermented. As such there isn’t a standard recipe
for it, so it’s best to get it from the shops. You will find there are quite a few varieties
of miso to choose from. Which one you choose depends on what you want to use it for.
Sweet white miso is most commonly used in making miso soup and to marinate meat. This
particular miso is only fermented for two to eight weeks rather than a few years as with other
forms of miso. This makes its taste, colour and texture sweeter and lighter. One key advise
for using miso is to use it without cooking, i.e., at the end of your cooking. Cooking miso
means it loses most of its nutrients.
Tempeh
This is the Indonesian form of the fermented soybean paste seasoning. Tempeh resembles tofu
in that it is in the form of a soybean cake. However, the main difference is that it is
a whole soybean produce, with a firm texture and strong flavour, sometimes described as a nutty
mushroom flavour. It is also rich in vitamins and minerals, and has a high protein and fibre
content. Many vegetarians around the world use it as a meat substitute.
To make your Tempeh at home, just follow this simple recipe:
- Ingredients: dehulled soybeans, and tempeh
starter
- Soak the soybeans
overnight
- Cook/boil for 30
minutes
- above other spores created in the
fermentation process
- Mix in the tempeh
starter
- Spread the beans into a thin layer and
then leave to ferment for another 24 to 48 hours.
The ideal temperature for the fermentation process
in tempeh is 30⁰C. Any higher or lower and you’ll just have other spores appear in the tempeh,
which are not harmful.
The tempeh starter is a specially made fermentation starter that helps push the fermentation
process along. Western tempeh starts contains spores of Rhizopus oligosporus or Rgizopus
oryzae. In the typical Indonesian tempeh starter, you would actually have inoculated soybeans
placed between hibiscus leaves and left in the sun for a few days. The soybeans are then
covered with a black mold. This process would not work in the cool Western climate, hence the
use of bacterial cultures in the Western tempeh.
Doenjang
Translates as ‘thick paste’ in Korean and that’s exactly what it is. This Korean dish is also
made with whole soybeans. It is said to be effective in preventing cancer. It is also
known to boost the activities of the large intestine, and relive constipation and diarrhoea.
Doenjeng is even said to provide antidote effect for snake venom and bee stings.
Doenjang takes a long time to make (one to three months). So it’s probably best to get
it ready-made from your local Korean or Chinese store. It is made from whole fermented
soybeans mixed with brine. It can also be made from a mix of soybeans, barley, wheat and rice
which are all mixed with salt and a fermentation starter.
Soy
Sauce
Now you can’t discuss fermenting soybeans without mentioning soy sauce. The most popular of
these sauces, soy sauce can be found in many kitchen cupboards around the world. It is made
with soybeans, a fermentation starter containing Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus soyae molds,
salt, water, grain and/or yeast. Originally from China, it spread to many parts of South and
Southeast Asia.
Soy sauces from different cultures are very different in taste, fragrance and even saltiness.
The Chinese soy sauce has been scientifically shown to have 10 times more antioxidants than red
wine, and so can help reduce risks of cardiovascular diseases. It is also rich in lactic
acids (produced by the probiotics in the sauce) which have great anti-allergic
potential.
A word of caution here: In 2001, the British Food Standards Agency has discovered some brands
of soy sauce sold in the UK (mostly imported) have potential cancer-causing chemicals in
them. Also in 2001, health agencies warned the Vietnamese of the presence of cancer-causing
chemicals in soy sauces produced there. This was also the case in 2008 in Australia.
The source of these chemicals is not known but people are being advised to avoid certain brands of
soy sauces that have been found to contain the chemicals - Golden Mountain, King Imperial, Pearl
River Bridge, Jammy Chai, Lee Kum Kee, Golden Mark, Kimlan, Golden Swan, Sinsin and Tung
Chun.
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