Homemade natto
Soybeans cooked and fermented with Natto starter: natto has an intense flavour and its characteristic stringy texture.
- Type
- Fermentation
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cooking
- 1 h
- Resting
- 12–18 hours’ soaking, 22–24 hours’ fermentation, 1 day in the fridge
- Serves
- about 600 g
Ingredients
- 300 g dried yellow soybeans
- UMAMI Natto starter: 50 g of starter is enough for 10 kg of soybeans, so about 1.5 g
- 1 tbsp boiled and cooled water
- Shallow containers with lids, cling film
- To serve: hot rice, UMAMI Soy sauce, spring onion, mustard
Method
- 01
Soak the soybeans in plenty of cold water for 12–18 hours.
- 02
Drain, then steam them or cook them in a pressure cooker (about 45 minutes) until a bean crushes easily between two fingers.
- 03
Dissolve the starter in the boiled water and pour it over the still-hot soybeans, mixing with a clean spoon.
- 04
Spread the soybeans in the containers in a layer 2–3 cm deep. Cover with perforated cling film and rest the lids on top.
- 05
Ferment at about 40 °C for 22–24 hours (in the oven with the light on, checking with a thermometer).
- 06
Put the natto in the fridge for a day: the flavour matures and the strings grow longer. Serve it on rice, with soy sauce and spring onion.
