Making Miso in Melbourne (Vol.6)

Miso making workshop last weekend.
She gave me such a beautiful smile after all!!
What a great present. Thank you for joining this workshop!

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We are going to use this high quality Rice koji this time.
(About this Rice Koji, check my previous post : This is the RICE KOJI !! Report of all hand process Rice Koji shop in Niigata )

This is the salt we are going to use this time.

Let’s get started.
First, mix Rice koji and salt well.

Soybeans were prepared in advance.
Soaked and cooked.

Now just mash them and make soybean paste !!

Add salted Rice koji to pasted soybeans.

Mix all well by hands.

Then make balls.

Put balls one by one into container.
Try to get rid of any air!

Sprinkle some salt on top.

Place salt as weight then finish!!

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Miso making workshop is available now.
Please contact me if you are interested.

Making Miso in Melbourne (Vol.5)

This is my fermentation area in my house and I added today’s miso here.

Today, I prepared miso again.
Today’s rice koji is this from Japan. Dried.

Soybeans were steamed, same as last time. Making Miso in Melbourne (Vol.4).

But I forgot to prepare salt !!! Oh No.
This was the only salt I’ve got at home…..
Suffering if I should I use or not?

mmmm
It must be too big for making miso.
mmmm
but I want to make miso today….

OK, Let’s try!!
I poured warm water then made salted water, but this salt wasn’t be melted completely.
Oh well. I just need to try making miso with this condition.

So first, mash steamed soybeans.

I used bowl, but wasn’t easy to mash soybeans,
so ended up using Japanese cone‐shaped mortar.
Very easy to mash soybeans.

When you finished mash all of soybeans, then mix with salted rice koji.

Then mix well until like this.

Now you make balls to get rid of air from mixture.
Also next step become easier if you make balls.

Use plastic bag to store miso again.

Put the balls in the bag, try to get rid of all the air from the bag.

Seal it. Write date so that you don’t forget when you made it.

Waiting to be fermented for another 6 months at least !!

Making Miso in Melbourne (Vol.3)

I use Miso a lot in my cooking, so I’m in danger that actually running out of my Miso!!
Urgently need to prepare Miso for next summer and winter.

Unfortunately, I don’t have big pot!
(I used to use my roomy’s. Since I moved to new house, I need whole lots of cooking staff!!)
This is essential to use big pot for making miso, but unfortunately I don’t have one.
Therefore, I used 500g of Soybeans only today. Little portion.

This is today’s Miso recipe.
Normally I put more Koji than Soybeans, but today I used same portion of Soy & Koji.

This is for 2kg of Miso paste
-Organic Soy beans 500g (Grown in Australia – bought at Terra Madre)
-Koji (Dried) 500g (Imported Koji from Japan, bought at Fuji Mart)
-Natural Sea salt 215g (From New Zealand – bought at Terra Madre)

I bought Koji in Australia first time!

Not sure about taste, but this was the only one I can get from shop.
It is always interesting to use new Koji. Each koji tastes different.

As usual, soak soybean over night (recommended to soak more than 18 hours), and get rid of some not good soybeans.

Then start cooking soybeans.

Mmmm, I really need to buy big pot now.
Boiled over easily. (Maybe I did 10 times!!)

Keep cooking keep cooking until soybeans become really soft.

While cooking soybeans, prepare Koji & salt.
At first, pour some warm water into Koji (120cc) then mixed.
This is to make dried Koji to refresh.

Then add salt and mix them well.

Isn’t this salt green?
Why green?
Mmmm. It said, “Natural sea salt from New Zealand, dried naturally under the sun”.
Looks so green. Well, let’s see how this salt works on my Miso!

OK- when soybeans become very soft, fun time starts.
Put the soybeans into the bag,

and…make them into the paste!! Any style is OK~.

or by hand like this!

Once it become paste, put them into the bog bowl (I need bigger bowl!),
then mixed with Koji&Salt which you prepared before.

Mix really well. Use your hands!!

I added some soybeans boiled water if you like softer paste.

Then~, making miso paste balls.

Put all the miso paste balls into your container.
Make sure no air inside, and make the top flat.

Spread some salt on top then cover.

Put “salt weight” on top of that,

Then it’s done! Miso for next summer.

But this is just 2 kg of Miso paste.
Need to prepare more!! so more reports will come 😛

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Home made miso after fermentation ~ 6 months later ~

Teda~~~~!!!

Good! No molds.

Can you see the liquid on surface?
This is called “Miso damari”
It has very yummy taste – Umami- and also works for “air shutoff” purpose, too.

OH~~~~~. Looks good.

Taste?
It’s good~~~!!
This is still 6months-old Miso.
More to grow, but it’s ready to eat now.

Making Miso in Melbourne

Miso making by simple ingredients. Only Soybeans, Salt and Koji.
Left = Sea salt ( Bought from health food store at Smith Street)
Right : Rice Koji (Brought from Japan) *Rice Koji is now available from Fuji Mart in South Yarra, Melbourne.

Cook soaked soybeans until it become soft.

Mmmm, looks still hard. Need to cook bit more.
This time, we didn’t have enough time to cook soybeans.
When you start making miso, make sure you have enough time !! If you cook soybeans really soft, then everything goes easy after that.

Now, smashing cooked soybeans.
We tried to use many different smash tools.
(If soybeans is soft in this stage, you can just press them by hands with no problem)
Friends were cooking other thing, so pumpkin and potatos on the table is not for Miso ♪

We used food processor, too ! (it was quick)
Now, mix smashed soybeans and Rice Koji+Salt.

Mix well. Mix well.

Soybeans seems bit too wet. But don’t worry. Koji will work for you well for another 6 to 12 months
then hope they make yummy Miso at the end !
So, just mix Soybeans and Koji well at this stage.

Tada~~♪♪

Now you need to put them into container to keep 6 to 12 months.
Put them tightly, so that no air in the container.
If there are air pockets, then it might cause for having molds.

Make the surface to flat.

Put the plastic wrap on the surface, then place lid.
Store it in cool place for about 6 months at least.
Normally, I store 12 months. (Some people store 3 years!!)

Miso growing report will be following !!!

Making Miso From Scratch

First you will need some Koji. You can buy these from a Koji shop, ins Japanese supermarkets on over the Internet. It comes in a plastic packet and it looks like rice.

Thats because it is rice, mostly. Rice Koji is the bacteria surrounding the rice. The bag on the left is Koji and the bag on the right is salt.

Next you want to combine the salt and Koji in a big bowl. Mix it well with your hands.

Now you need to prepare the soy beans. We recommend using dried soy beans that have been soaked in water overnight. You then need to cook them for a few hours on a low heat until they are soft enough to squash easily with your fingers.

The soy beans need to be mashed into a paste. There are lots of ways to do this. You can use a mortar and pestle, a food processor, whatever is easiest. This time we used  a plastic bag and mashed them with our hands and a wooden rolling pin.

It took a little while.

But we got there. Once the beans are a pretty consistent paste, add them to the koji and salt prepared earlier.

And mix them together too.

You might need to add a bit of water from the boiled soybeans to soften the mix up. The softness should be the same as what you want the final miso paste to be. The texture will be the same. Once you have the texture right you need to roll the paste into balls about the size of a baseball.

Now the fun part. Put a plastic bag into a bucket or pot and throw the balls in one by one. You do this to get rid of all the air bubbles.

Now give the paste a flat surface and sprinkle a bit of salt on the top.

Seal the plastic bag airtight making sure you get all the air out. A really good way of doing this is to push as much with your hands then use a straw to suck out the very last bit of air.

Finally, after you’ve tied the plastic bag, weigh it down with another bag of salt. This will also keep the temperature cool.

Store the pot for 6 months. Some where out of the sun and out of the way.

Stay tunned and we’ll show you how it turns out!