Soy Sauce: An Asian Condiment
Children often refuse to eat outside street food, and this is right from a health point of view. In such a situation, you can prepare various recipes by making soy sauce at home. Soy sauce is an Asian condiment made by fermenting soybeans. Its flavor is deep and spicy, consisting of soybeans, water, wheat, salt, and a special type of fungus. It can be used in chow mein, manchurian and fried rice. It takes some time to make it, but does not require much effort.
Ingredients required to make soy sauce
Soybean – 4 cups
Wheat flour- 4 cups
Water- 18 cups for soaking soybeans + 16 cups for brine
Salt- 3.5 cups, sea salt or Himalayan pink salt
Cozy Starter – as per packet, available online
How to make Soy Sauce
– Wash and filter 4 cups soybean thoroughly. Fill 18 cups of water in a big vessel, add soybeans in it and soak it for 24 hours. After 24 hours the soybeans will swell and double in size.
– Drain the excess water from the soaked soybean and cook uncovered on medium-high flame for 4 to 5 hours.
– If you want to cook quickly, use a pressure cooker. Add 1 cup of water along with soybean in the cooker, close the lid and cook on high flame for 20 minutes.
– After cooking, mash the soybean with a food processor or mortar and pestle and make a soft paste.
– Add 4 cups of wheat flour to this paste and knead it well so that soybean and wheat flour mix together.
– Do not add extra water during this period. Knead the dough so that it becomes like a stiff dough.
– Koji is a bacterial culture, whose scientific name is Aspergillus oryzae, which helps in fermenting soybean paste.
process of fermentation
– Spread the mixture in a 2-inch layer in a 3-inch deep steel or glass tray. Cut it into small blocks 2 to 3 inches apart.
– Keep the tray in a warm and humid place without moving it for 2 days. Once fermentation starts, it will start to smell.
– Dissolve 3.5 cups of sea salt or Himalayan pink salt in 16 cups of water and cook it until the salt dissolves completely.
-Put the dried soya blocks in a large jar and pour brine on top. Leave some space at the top of the jar so that it can be stirred easily.
method of storage
– Keep the jar in a warm or humid place. Stir with a long spoon once daily for the first week and then once a week for the next 6 to 12 months.
Due to fermentation, it may have a strong smell, so keep it covered well. Gradually its color will become darker.
-The longer the fermentation period, the more intense the taste of soy sauce. It can be filtered after 6 months.
– Filter through a muslin cloth and extract all the juice by pressing the solid part with a spoon.
Heat the liquid over medium-high heat at 79 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. When it cools down, fill it in a bottle and keep it in the refrigerator.