How to make tempeh

Buckwheat tempeh

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 11:12:19 GMT

How to make buckwheat tempeh

We experimented with organic buckwheat and we love it!

There's no need to dehull and only took two minutes of steaming in an Instant Pot.

Link to the YouTube tutorial is below.

Ingredients:

200 grams of organic buckwheat

2 tablespoons of vinegar (can be sprayed or boil with the buckwheat)

1/2 teaspoon of Tempehtation starter

water for steaming or boiling

Incubator of your choice.

How to:

Follow the instructions in the video.

How to add spices to tempeh prior to fermentation

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 20:50:32 GMT

PLEASE NOTE: this tutorial is for colder countries where the temperature in your house is no more than 22C. If your room temperature is above 27C, there is no need to cover the beans with tea towels or electric blanket. Just leave the batch in a safe place. How do I know when the house is around 27C? If I walk around the house in a tank top and all the windows are open.

I made another visit to my local Asian shop and bought several bags of beans that I'd never heard of.

This turned out to be another easy to make tempeh, vall dall sweet or split fava beans (according to Google). Cooking time was only 9 minutes (using an induction hob) after soaking overnight. Then after inoculating the beans (please use the tempeh starter according to the instruction on the label), I added black sesame seeds to contrast with the pale kernels along with some dried chopped garlic for flavour. You can only add dried herbs or spices that you like as long as they are not oily. Fresh herbs may interfere with the fermentation.

It was very cold and windy in Scotland when I made this so I had to use an electric blanket. It turned out so beautiful and delicious! The sesame seeds add a lovely crunch to the tempeh.

Give it a try, you won't be disappointed!

A collection of tempeh diagnosis

Sun, 07 Mar 2021 20:53:58 GMT

We have compiled the photos in this page from our Q and A with our customers. We hope that this blog will help anyone struggling with the same problems

The above tempeh from Pam was fermenting perfectly but was either left in the incubator for too long resulting in overheating or the incubator was too hot. We suggest choosing an ambient temperature around 26C-28C from the beginning. A steady warm temperature is preferable to a high direct temperature of around 30C-34C unless you have experimented using a high temperature and understand the timings.

The above batches failed because there was too much moisture on the surface of the beans. The reason for this is that beans were still wet when inoculated. To avoid this try to ensure that the surface of the beans are dry to touch. You can achieve this using hairdryer, air drying by the window or with an electric fan.

In this example from Lorna M the spores couldn't penetrate the beans because the skins were still intact. We suggest splitting the beans and removing the soya skins before cooking the beans.

The above tempeh (from Witri J) turned into mush as it was stacked in the fridge and continued fermenting. The solution here is not to stack tempeh in the fridge, or alternatively store in the freezer where stacking is fine.

Pete J sent us the above photos. After 24 hours of fermenting he noticed water on the lid. He therefore removed it and replaced with foil. Unfortunately condensation water dripped back into the batch combined with the heat from the incubator that was not switched off.

We suggest that you check your tempeh every 6 hours to wipe off the condensation. This is important. Also remember to switch off the incubator immediately when the top of tempeh feels warm. At that point the batch is already generating its own heat and extra heat is unnecessary and could result in a ruined batch.

The above batch is absolutely fine. Just cut the dry bits on the top and enjoy the rest of the tempeh. The grey spots inside the beans were caused by excess oxygen. If you wish for a white fluffy result, split the beans, remove the skins and press the beans down tight prior to incubation.

Sprouted lentils and chana dal tempeh

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 09:01:21 GMT

Step by step tutorial

I became obsessed with sprouts after I've read that it helps to rebalance our hormones. If you have had a surgery that perhaps caused by hormone imbalance and a lifetime of bad food choices it is time to pay back your health with nutritious food.

I have finally mastered making tempeh with sprouts, especially lentil sprouts (I had a 50kg sack of lentils so had plenty to practice with!). I had a few failed attempts before realising that I had to cook the sprouts for it to work. I wanted to retain as much vitamin C as possible but that actually stopped the tempeh spores from growing.

The solution was to steam the lentils for 2 minutes in an Instant Pot. This won't overcook them and hopefully retain their beneficial vitamins. I also added some leftover chana dal as I knew that this has worked well in the past.

If you decide to sprout other types of beans or lentils, adjust the steam time according to the kernel size. For example if you sprout yellow peas then you may need to steam them for 5-6 minutes in the Instant Pot.

Now let's get cooking!

Ingredients:

100 grams of sprouted lentils (steamed for 2 minutes)

100 grams of cooked chana dal (steamed for 20 minutes)

1 teaspoon of tempeh starter

2 teaspoons of rice flour

A splash of white vinegar

Equipment:

Instant Pot if you have one, or use a steamer
Clean utensils and a bowl
A clean tea towel to spread the cooked sprouts and chana dal. Spread them out to dry at room temperature
A clean silicon mould or a clean glass dish with lid (I don't use plastic bags anymore to make my tempeh)
Incubator (we use a reptile mat or an electric blanket. Check our link here for other types of incubator)
Digital thermometer
Extra clean blankets or tea towels

Process:

Please check our video below. Step by step written process to follow

Okara tempeh

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 23:13:01 GMT

How to make okara tempeh

Most of you are probably wondering, what exactly is okara? Well according to Wikipedia, okara is a pulp consisting of insoluble parts of the soybean that remain after pureed soybeans are filtered in the production of soy milk and tofu. However in simple terms okara is really just powdered soya beans.

Okara tempeh is a great way to recycle your soya waste from homemade soya milk. The finished tempeh is still as nutritious and delicious as ever. The texture is softer than ordinary soya tempeh, but it still ferments beautifully.

I suggest slicing your okara tempeh into small cubes, spraying with a little garlic oil and popping them into the air fryer. The crispy tempeh is then perfect to throw into some stir fried noodles with hoisin sauce. I sometimes drop them into a noodle soup to add a bit of texture. If you have any recipes you are welcome to share in our Instagram.

Now let's get cooking!

Ingredients:

300 -400 grams of okara

1 tablespoon of rice flour

2 teaspoons of tempeh starter

A splash of white vinegar

Equipment:

A large clean pan to boil the okara or a large clean wok with lid

Clean utensils

A clean bowl to transfer the cooked okara

A food safe plastic bag that has been pierced with a stick or a large needle

Incubator (we use a reptile mat or an electric blanket)

Digital thermometer

Clean blankets or tea towels

After squeezing the milk out of your soya beans pulp, transfer to a bowl. Add water to cover the top and stir. Scoop up any grit that floats to the top. The purpose of this step is to remove any soya skins that are still floating around which enables the tempeh starter to w ork better.

Transfer the o kara to a large wok, cover with water and boil (set the timer for 15 minutes from when the water start s boiling ). Be c areful not to let the water boil over.

After boiling for 15 minutes, d rain the excess water and return the wok to the hob . Keep stirring to avoid the beans b urning . Set the timer to 20 minutes and reduce heat to medium high. C ontinue stirring

After 20 minutes the water from the o kara should have evaporated. When you are confident that the moisture has disappeared, switch off the hob and leave the o kara to cool for around 10 minutes. T he picture above is how the dried okara should look

Once the o kara is cooled, transfer to a clean bowl ready for inoculation

Add the rice flour and the tempeh starter. In this tutorial we use a little more starter than usual as the starter seems to stick to the okara and didn't distribute well. Mixing the starter with the rice flour will reduce this problem. Also t he purpose of rice flour is to remove excess moisture that might still exist in the beans and to enhance the fermentation.

Mix the rice flour and the starter thoroughly. To ensure that they are fully mixed, stir them continuously for 2 minutes. If you don't mix the starter thoroughly, the tempeh could end up patchy and crumbly.

Transfer the o kara to the food safe plastic bags and pierce the bags with a clean satay stick or a large needle. Place the bags on an airy tray - see above for an example . This is important for air circulation.

As you can see my room temperature was 19C, which is too cold for fermentation . I therefore put them inside an incubator, in this case an electric blanket. I switched on the heater at medium heat and cov er ed the tempeh with tea towels. I started incubating the okara on Tuesday at 7pm.

On Wednesday at 6pm the temperature on top of the tempeh batch is around 30C. This is a good sign as it means that the spores are growing. There is also a little condensation inside the bag. Switch off the heater immediately and leave the batch inside the tea towels.

On Thursday at 10am the spores have already covered the okara. But don't get too excited yet as you need to leave them for another day. From our experience if you harvest them too soon, we find that some of the tempeh inside the bag will not be fully formed. This is perhaps because the beans are in grits and rough shape. Therefore please wait for another day to allow the spores to grow fully inside the bag.

Check this out! On Friday this b eautiful white okara tempeh is ready . The texture was firm and not crumbly, the flavour was very much like soya beans but softer. Now this has become our weekly diet of high protein tempeh. Good luck everyone!

Black spores, the most asked question

Thu, 20 Aug 2020 14:15:00 GMT

We thank y ou for visiting our website and this page is certainly popular. We have added new photos to answer most of your questions .

We have received so many questions from our customers who worry about grey/black spots on their tempeh. Some people think these spores means that the tempeh has failed. Please relax, this is not a failure!

Grey/black spots are completely normal and safe to eat. It is not a spoilage and it doesn't mean your tempeh has failed. These spores can mean two things (1) the fermentation process is complete OR (2) during fermentation process there was some excess oxygen resulting in the Oligosporus spores maturing slightly earlier than usual. The perfect tempeh should smell of mushrooms and nothing else.

We have pictures of some of our customers photos above. They are perfectly fine and I therefore suggest that they start marinading/cooking!

Tempeh is not edible when it has colours other than white or grey/black. Also do not eat tempeh that has a strong smell of ammonia or if the texture of the sliced tempeh is slimy and mushy (indicating that the incubation temperature was too high). We uploaded those failed ones below.

No cook method - tempeh using tinned butter beans

Sun, 19 Jul 2020 08:32:17 GMT

PLEASE NOTE: this tutorial is for colder countries where the temperature in your house is no more than 22C. If your room temperature is above 25C there is no need to cover the beans with tea towels or an electric blanket. Just leave the batch in a safe place.

So here is my tutorial to make tempeh using the notoriously difficult butter beans. I had a question from Cris Literatura in the Tempehtation Support Group about it and thought that I must solve this problem. After drying using a dehydrator, the secret to make butter beans tempeh to work is to cut/slice the beans to smaller pieces so that the spores can pierce through the kernels. This method should work with cannellini beans as well.

The total weight of the beans after drying was around 184 grams. Instinctively I use 1 teaspoon of starter for two reasons: Firstly, butter bean kernels are larger than other beans. Secondly, the ingredients on the tin included salt and sugar and this means that the fermentation process will take even longer. Thankfully 1 teaspoon of starter worked well. But I do recommend to use 2 teaspoons of starter just to be safe. The fermentation only took 2 days. I set the incubator at 30C for 21 hours and then switched it off after the beans temperature had risen to 34C.

The end result was so worth it. This is much better any shop bought tempeh you have ever tasted.

Please follow the step by step process below:

Equipment required:

A large strainer
A dehydrator to dry the beans at 40C for 1 hour or an electric fan (takes 2-3 hours)
Plastic ziplock bags or biodegradable ones
A clean satay stick to make holes in the bag (or a large clean needle) - sanitise by soaking in boiling water and leaving to dry for 1 hour
A clean cookie tray/oven tray
Clean scissors or a knife
An incubator (essential for autumn - winter use), or a clean blanket in the summer (incubator isn't needed when its warm)

Ingredients:

1 tin of butter beans

2 tablespoons of white vinegar, apple cider vinegar or juice of a lemon

1 teaspoon of rice flour

1 teaspoon of Tempehtation starter

Step by step process:

Remove the water and rinse the beans under the tap using a sieve and leave for 10 minutes

Then sprinkle in 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Transfer to the dehydrator tray, spread the beans out, switch it on and use 40C for 1 hour

Or if you don't have a dehydrator, use an electric fan or a hairdryer.

A fter 1 hour check the beans. If they are still moist to the touch, dry for a little longer. It is essential that there is no more surface moisture on the beans

O nce you are confident that the beans are dry to touch, transfer to a clean chopping board . Cut the large beans with the scissors or knife into smaller pieces. If the beans crumble or break that's ok as long as they are dry.

Add 1 teaspoon of rice flour and mix through. The purpose of rice flour is to absorb any excess moisture still exist on the surface of the beans. Add 2 teaspoons of Tempehtation starter and mix thoroughly.

Transfer to a ziplock bag, recyclable plastic bag or use a container. Check the ideas here

P ierce both sides of the bag with a clean satay stick or needle . Place the bag on an airy tray as shown in the video. Air circulation is crucial. Flatten the bag and make sure that every corner is filled with beans. Make sure the batch is no more than 2.5 cm thick as this will help to speed up the fermentation

Check the temperature in the room. In the summer when the temperature is around 24C, the only thing needed to help the fermentation is a clean blanket or several tea towels. An incubator is not required

Leave the bag in a safe place, put a reminder on the phone to check again in 10 hours
When condensation is visible, remove the blanket/tea towels. Leave the batch to ferment on its own
Check again in 24 hours. If the spores are visible that's a great sign

The tempeh is ready when the whole batch can be lifted in one piece, smells of mushrooms and is covered in white spores. Well done!

Please follow the video tutorial below for the step by step instructions. Any questions? We are happy to help. Our email address is on our homepage.

Almonds tempeh, it is possible

Fri, 17 Jul 2020 13:45:12 GMT

PLEASE NOTE: this tutorial is for colder countries where the temperature in your house is no more than 22C. If your room temperature is above 25C, there is no need to cover the beans with tea towels or an electric blanket. Just leave the batch in a safe place.

My family loved this tempeh, which I made using almonds. I marinated the finished tempeh in a BBQ sauce before grilling and it was delicious. As the texture is nutty I am sure it would be possible to make tasty sweet sweet snacks out of this. Be creative!

Ingredients:

200 grams of raw almonds
2 tablespoons of 5% acidity white vinegar, apple cider vinegar or juice of a lemon
2 grams of Tempehtation starter (please use the tempeh starter according to the instructions on the label)
Clean tap water

Equipment required:

A large pot to boil the almonds or an Instant Pot
A large strainer
A dehydrator to dry the beans or a n electric fan plus some tea towels
A satay stick to make holes in the plastic bag (or a large needle if you have one). Sanitise the stick or needle by pouring hot boiling water on it and leaving to dry for 1 hour
Plastic zip lock bags (these can be reused) or biodegradable plastic bags
A blanket or tea towels to keep the tempeh warm
An incubator of your choice (check our DIY incubator page for inspiration).

Step by step:

Soak the almonds overnight
The next morning, rinse the almonds until the water runs clear under the tap
Cook for 25-30 minutes. I use an Instant Pot
Strain off the water and leave to cool
Transfer to a plate, remove the skins and split the almonds in two by squeezing them
Sprinkle on the vinegar
Dry the almonds using a dehydrator. Spread them out and make sure they are not on top of each other. Set at 40 C for 30 minutes. Alternatively spread them out on tea towels and use an electric fan for around 1.5 hours
If using the fan, after 1 hour check the almonds. If they are still moist to the touch, dry for a little longer. It is essential that there is no more surface moisture on the beans
Once you are confident that the almonds are dry to touch, transfer to a clean bowl
Add 1 teaspoon of rice flour and mix through. The purpose of rice flour is to absorb any excess moisture that might still exist on the surface of the beans
Add 1 teaspoon of Tempehtation starter and mix thoroughly
Transfer to a ziplock bag or use a container. Check the ideas here
Pierce both sides of the bag with a clean satay stick or needle
Place the bag on an airy tray as shown in the video. Air circulation is crucial. Flatten the bag and make sure that every corner is filled to stop early black spores forming. Make sure that the batch is no more than 2.5 cm thick as this will help to speed up the fermentation
Check the temperature in the room. In the summer when the temperature around 24C, the only thing needed to help the fermentation is a clean blanket or several tea towels. An incubator is not required
Leave the bag in a safe place and check again in 10 hours
When condensation is visible, remove the blanket/tea towels. Leave the batch to ferment on its own
Check again in 24 hours. If the spores are visible that's a great sign. Leave for another day
The tempeh is ready when the whole batch can be lifted in one piece and is covered in white spores. The tempeh texture will be firm, taste nutty but will have no aroma.

Please note that this batch has some black spores forming. This is normal so do not worry. Black spores form when there are airy pockets inside the bag that are not filled with beans. This is due to excess oxygen inside the bag. I will create a separate blog to explain this as there have been many questions sent to me on this subject by email and via our social media.

Please check the video tutorial below for my step by step instructions. Any questions? We are happy to help. Our email address is on our homepage.

No cook method - tempeh using tinned chickpeas and red kidney beans

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 10:08:25 GMT

Tinned beans tempeh

PLEASE NOTE: this tutorial is for colder countries where the temperature in your house is no more than 22C. If your room temperature is above 25C there is no need to cover the beans with tea towels or electric blanket. Just leave the batch in a safe place.

So here is my tutorial to make tempeh using tinned beans. No cooking and soaking required! I had few questions in my classes about it and wasn't sure if it would work. However thankfully it did work and could save you a lot of time!

Firstly I noticed that the fermentation took longer than usual. This is because the ingredients listed on the tin included salt and sugar, which slow down the fermentation process. Therefore it is essential to rinse the beans thoroughly under the tap.

Please use the tempeh starter according to the instruction on the label.

Equipment required:

A large strainer
An electric fan to help dry the beans
Plastic ziplock bags or biodegradable ones
A clean satay stick to make holes in the bag (or a large clean needle) - sanitise by soaking in boiling water and leaving to dry for 1 hour
A clean cookie tray/oven tray
A clean large towel to spread the beans and several tea towels
An incubator (essential for autumn - winter use), or a clean blanket in the summer (incubator isn't needed when its warm)

Ingredients:

1 tin of chickpeas and 1 tin of red kidney beans or other beans of your choice

2 tablespoons of white vinegar or apple cider vinegar or juice of a lemon

1 teaspoon of rice flour

1/2 teaspoon of Tempehtation starter (please check the packaging, a full teaspoon is sometimes required)

Step by step:

Remove the water and rinse the beans under the tap
Transfer to a tray with tea towels, sprinkle some vinegar, work it through and spread the beans out to dry with a help of an electric fan
After 1 hour with the fan, check the beans. If they are still moist to the touch, dry a little longer. It is essential that there is no more surface moisture on the beans
Once you are confident that the beans are dry to touch, transfer to a clean bowl
Add 1 teaspoon of rice flour and mix through. The purpose of rice flour is to absorb any excess moisture still exist on the surface of the beans
Add 1/2 teaspoon of Tempehtation starter and mix thoroughly
Transfer to a ziplock bag or use a container. Check the ideas here
Pierce both sides of the bag with a clean satay stick
Place the bag on an airy tray as shown in the video. Air circulation is crucial. Flatten the bag and make sure that every corner is filled with beans. Make sure the batch is no more than 2.5 cm thick as this will help to speed up the fermentation
Check the temperature in the room. In the summer when the temperature around 24C, the only thing needed to help the fermentation is a clean blanket or several tea towels. An incubator is not required. Save some electricity, yippee
Leave the bag in a safe place and check again in 10 hours
When condensation is visible, remove the blanket/tea towels. Leave the batch to ferment on its own
Check again in 24 hours. If the spores are visible that's a great sign. Leave for another day (sugar and salt in the original tin will result in the fermentation taking a day longer than normal)
The tempeh is ready when the whole batch can be lifted in one piece, smells of mushrooms and is covered in white spores. Well done!

Please follow the video tutorial below for the step by step instructions. Any questions? We are happy to help. Our email address is on our homepage.

Making tempeh without using plastic bags

Tue, 26 Nov 2019 16:27:07 GMT

For the batch on the right I use Kitchen Craft non stick pizza baking tray with holes (this can be bought on Amazon UK). I wrapped the top of the tray with cling film to secure the beans and then pierced this with some holes for air circulation. Incubate as per tutorials.

I used a ceramic baking tray for the above. It is important to press the beans down to ensure a compact shape. Then cover with a clean pizza baking tray with holes or cling film. If using cling film you must pierce this to allow air circulation. Then incubate as usual.

When the tempeh is ready, carefully lift the cover. You can see from the photo on the left that the beans are fully fermented and it is now a solid piece of tempeh. Carefully turn the baking tray upside down, let the tempeh slide down then slice some pieces and start cooking.

For the above method I used my old soldering iron to make holes in the Tupperware and lid. Alternatively you could use an electric drill. You can see from the picture that the fermentation has completed when the beans are covered with cotton-like white tempeh mould. Lift the lid very carefully before wiping off the heavy condensation on the lid and on the inside of the box.

How to make tempeh with peanuts

Tue, 26 Nov 2019 16:14:15 GMT

PLEASE NOTE: this tutorial is for colder countries where the temperature in your house is no more than 22C. If your room temperature is above 25C, there is no need to cover the beans with tea towels or electric blanket. Just leave the batch in a safe place. How do I know when the house is around 25C? If I walk around the house in a tank top, or my underwear, or bikini. Heatwave, baby!

In this tutorial I experimented with red peanuts that I purchased from a Chinese Supermarket. If the skinless option is available, I do recommend to get that one. As you can see from the end result at the bottom of the page, the skins stopped the spores fermenting the peanuts.

The peanuts took longer to cook, it took around 45 minutes for the peanuts to soften.

Ingredients:

300-500 grams of raw peanuts
4 tablespoons of 5% acidity white vinegar or apple cider vinegar or juice of a lemon
2 grams of Tempehtation starter (please use the tempeh starter according to the instruction on the label)
Clean tap water

Equipment required:

A large pot to boil the peanuts
A large strainer
Tea towels to dry the beans
An electric fan (optional)
Satay stick to make holes in the plastic bag (or a large needle if you have one). Sanitise the stick by pouring hot boiling water on it and leaving to dry for 1 hour
Plastic zip lock bags (this can be reused) or biodegradable plastic bags
A blanket or tea towels to keep the tempeh warm
Incubator of your choice (check our DIY incubator page for inspiration).

The day before, rinse the peanuts several times and then add boiling water and soak overnight.

Prior to cooking, I recommend to split the peanuts and remove some of the skins. I left some skins intact and it was a mistake since the peanuts didn't ferment properly.

Add the vinegar to help lower the PH and discourage bad bacteria growth

Boil in high heat for around 45 minutes or until the peanuts are soft but not mushy

After boiling, strain off the water, let the water to drip off and leave to cool for at least half an hour. Try to split more beans by using a potato masher

Once cooled allow for the beans to dry on double tea towels. An electric fan will help to dry them faster. Dry until there is no more surface moisture. As a guidance, when the skins start to curl up, the peanuts are dry

Add Tempehtation Starter , mix through evenly.

Transfer to zip lock bags. Perforate both sides using the satay stick at a distance about 1cm. Ensure thickness no more than 2.5cm.

Place the packed peanuts on a clean tray and wrap it around with a thick blanket (as you can see, I use 3 tea towels). Put in the incubator of your choice (check our DIY incubator page for inspiration). The incubator temperature I have set for the tempeh to ferment was 30C. Leave them undisturbed.

After 24-36 hours I didn't check for condensation but only switched off the incubator once the temperature inside reached 34C . I left them to ferment for a further 24 hours and the results can be seen above.

The tempeh texture was firm but a little crumbly due to peanut skins. I should have removed all the skins prior to fermenting. Taste very nutty but no aroma.

How to make tempeh with green lentils

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 12:48:14 GMT

In this tutorial I continue my mission to demonstrate that it is possible to make tempeh with any beans. On this occasion I used green lentils and there is no need to soak overnight. I only boiled the lentils for 20 minutes.

This tempeh fermented faster than both yellow split peas and soybeans because the kernels are smaller and there is no need to split the lentils.

Ingredients:

500 grams of green lentils (can be found in supermarkets or local shops)
4 tablespoons of 5% acidity white vinegar or apple cider vinegar or juice of a lemon
2 grams of Tempehtation starter (please use the tempeh starter according to the instruction on the label)
Clean tap water
1 tablespoon of rice flour

Equipment required:

A large pot to boil the lentils
A large strainer
Tea towels to dry the beans
An electric fan (optional)
Satay stick to make holes in the plastic bag (or a large needle if you have one). Sanitise the stick by pouring hot boiling water on it and leaving to dry for 1 hour
Plastic zip lock bags (this can be reused) or biodegradable plastic bags

Prior to cooking, rinse under the tap several times and add fresh clean water. Add the vinegar and boil in high heat for 20 minutes.

After boiling, strain off the water, let the water to drip off and leave to cool for at least half an hour.

Once cooled allow for the beans to dry on double tea towels. An electric fan will help to dry them faster. Dry until there is no more surface moisture. As a guidance, it took 1 hour to dry the lentils using 40 watt fan. I spread and turned the lentils over several times to ensure they dry evenly.

Add rice flour and mix through evenly. Rice flour will help absorb any excess moisture.

Add Tempehtation Starter , mix through evenly. Please use the tempeh starter according to the instruction on the label.

Transfer to zip lock bags. Perforate using the satay stick at a distance about 1cm. Ensure thickness no more than 2.5cm.

Place the packed beans on a clean tray and wrap it around with a thick blanket (it is -4C in Scotland). Put in the incubator of your choice (check our DIY incubator page for inspiration). The incubator temperature I have set for the tempeh to ferment was 27C. Leave them undisturbed.

After 24-30 hours some tiny condensation will appear . The white mycelium are visible. Remove the towels carefully and leave undisturbed at a room temperature.

Green lentils tempeh is done when the surface is completely covered in white mycelium. the whole process took 3 days. I had to take the tempeh out for a photo in the garden, it was a dark autumn morning.

The tempeh texture was firm and solid similar to soybeans tempeh. There was no aroma but it was delicious!

How to make edamame beans tempeh

Fri, 01 Nov 2019 11:27:31 GMT

Finally its here. Apology for the delay on uploading the video.

In this tutorial I am using frozen edamame soya beans bought from Asda. I expect all major supermarkets will also stock these. The pack consisted of 600 grams of beans, which after cooking and drying they reduced to just over 300 grams. I only used 1/4 teaspoon of Tempehtation starter to ferment the beans. Please use the tempeh starter according to the instruction on the label.

I used an electric blanket as an incubator. After the thermometer inside the incubator reached 30C I left the beans to ferment (starting on Friday evening). After 24 hours condensation started to appear so I switched off the incubator and left the beans to ferment for a further 24 hours at room temperature.

On Sunday morning the fermentation was complete with the white spores covering the beans and the tempeh is solid when lifted.

Good luck everyone!

Tempeh from popcorn, is it possible? No

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 10:20:14 GMT

Well, let me test this and will let you know the results

Three days later.......sadly it didn't work. The kernels were still hard despite cooking on a high heat in 1 hour. I have therefore decided to try using fresh or tinned sweetcorn instead. Watch this space!

Black soya beans tempeh

Tue, 29 Oct 2019 18:48:36 GMT

And how to seal a plain plastic bag using candlelight

Tips: I ran out of vinegar and had to use the lactic acid as emergency. According to the Book of Tempeh by William Shurtleff lactic acid can be use as a substitute to vinegar. Or use juice of a lemon (Indonesian way).

After soaking overnight I was surprised when I split the beans that, after removing the skin, the bean is cream/white similar to a regular soybean. In this tutorial I therefore kept some of the skins/hulls and only dried them to retain the identity of black soya beans. The end result is similar to black turtle beans tempeh as in my previous tutorial https://youtu.be/eQvHghoGlZU

Please use the tempeh starter according to the instruction on the label.

Also in this tutorial I show how to seal a plain plastic bag (non ziplock) using candlelight. I know that most people don’t have a heat sealer handy in their kitchen!

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, steam the beans for 30 minutes instead. Good luck everyone!

How to make tempeh with split chickpeas and green lentils

Thu, 28 Feb 2019 08:07:27 GMT

A lot of people have asked me on how to make chickpeas tempeh but I wasn't keen on dehulling chickpeas for hours.

Then I found chana dal in the local supermarket, which mean split chickpeas (according to Google). I also have a bag of green lentils in the cupboard so I did a tutorial below. As the beans were already split I found this tempeh quite easy to make. The whole process took 3 days in the winter and it was so worth it.

Please use the tempeh starter according to the instruction on the label.

Equipment required:

A clean container to soak the lentils and chickpeas (ensure no trace of oils)
A large strainer
A large pot to cook the beans
An electric fan to help dry the beans
Plastic ziplock bags or biodegradable ones
A clean satay stick to make holes in the bag (or a large clean needle) - sanitise by soaking in boiling water and leaving to dry for 1 hour
A clean cookie tray/oven tray
A clean large towel to spread the beans and several tea towels
An incubator (essential for autumn - winter use)

Ingredients:

150 grams of chana dal (split chickpeas) and 150 grams of green lentils
5 tablespoons of white vinegar or apple cider vinegar or juice of a lemon
1 tablespoons of rice flour
2 grams of Tempehtation starter (please check the packaging, a teaspoon sometimes required)

Please follow the video tutorial below for the step by step instruction. Any question? We are happy to help. Just email us, email address is in the homepage.

How to make tempeh with urid dall chilka

Sat, 26 Jan 2019 17:05:15 GMT

In this tutorial I continue my mission to demonstrate that it is possible to make tempeh with any beans. On this occasion I used urid dall chilka.

This tempeh fermented faster than both yellow split peas and soybeans because the kernels are smaller. As the beans were already split I found this tempeh quite easy to make.

Ingredients:

500 grams of urid dall chilka (black matpe beans - can be found in Asian grocers)
5 tablespoons of 5% acidity white vinegar or apple cider vinegar or juice of a lemon
1/2 - 1 teaspoon of Tempehtation starter (please check the instruction on the label)
Clean tap water

Equipment required:

A large pot to soak and boil the beans
A large strainer
Tea towels to dry the beans
An electric fan (optional)
Satay stick to make holes in the plastic bag (or a large needle if you have one). Sanitise the stick by pouring hot boiling water on it and leaving to dry for 1 hour
Plastic zip lock bags (this can be reused) or biodegradable plastic bags

After rinsing, the beans must be soaked and immerse overnight. Prior to cooking, strain off the water, rinse under the tap several times and replace with fresh clean water.

Add 5 tablespoons of vinegar. Switch on the hob on high and when the beans start to boil, switch on the timer and cook for 8 minutes. Scoop off and remove the froth out of the pan.

After boiling, strain off the water, let the water to drip off and leave to cool for at least half an hour.

Once cooled allow for the beans to dry on double tea towels. An electric fan will help to dry them faster. Dry until there is no more surface moisture.

Add Tempehtation starter and mix through evenly.

The urid dall have expanded from 500 gram to 791 gram.

Transfer to zip lock bags. Perforate using the satay stick at a distance about 1cm. Ensure thickness no more than 2.5cm.

Place the packed beans on a clean tray and wrap it around with 2 clean bath towels. The incubator temperature I have set for the tempeh to ferment was 27C. Leave them undisturbed.

After 24-30 hours some tiny condensation will appear . The white mycelium are visible. Remove the towels carefully and leave undisturbed in a cooler room.

Urid dall chilka tempeh is done when the beans surface is completely covered in white mycelium. the whole process took 3 days. Congratulations!

The tempeh texture was firm and solid similar to soybeans tempeh. The aroma is quite fragrant and mushroomy.

How to make tempeh with scotch broth mix

Tue, 22 Jan 2019 17:51:00 GMT

This is the first time I have made Scotch Broth Mix tempeh and it was easy to make since there is no requirement to split the beans and spent hours removing the hulls. Scotch Broth mix consist of Pearl Barley, Yellow Split Peas, Green Split Peas, Blue Peas, Red Split Lentils .

Ingredients:

500 grams of broth mix
5 tablespoons of 5% acidity white vinegar or apple cider vinegar or juice of a lemon
2 grams of Tempehtation starter (please check the instruction on the label)
Clean tap water

Equipment required:

A large pot to soak and boil the broth mix
A large strainer
Satay stick to make holes in the plastic bag (or a large needle if you have one). Sanitise the stick by pouring hot boiling water on it and leaving to dry for 1 hour
Tea towels
An electric fan
Plastic zip lock bags (this can be reused) or biodegradable plastic bags

After rinsing, the beans must be soaked and immerse overnight. Prior to cooking, strain off the water, rinse under the tap several times and replace with fresh clean water.

Add 5 tablespoons of vinegar. Cook on high and when the beans start to boil switch on the timer for 15 minutes (if using induction and gas hob. 20 minutes for electric hob). Scoop off and remove the froth out of the pan.

After boiling, strain off the water, let the water to drip off and leave to cool for at least half an hour.

Once cooled allow for the broth mix to dry on double tea towels. An electric fan will help to dry them faster. Dry until there is no more surface moisture.

Add Tempehtation starter and mix through evenly.

Transfer to zip lock bags. Perforate using the satay stick at a distance about 1cm. Ensure thickness no more than 2.5cm.

The broth mix have expanded from 500 gram to 840 gram.

Place the packed beans on a clean tray and wrap it around with 2 clean bath towels. The Incubator temperature I have set for the broth mix tempeh was 27C. Leave the mix undisturbed.

After 24-30 hours some tiny condensation will appear . Remove the towels carefully and leave undisturbed in the same room.

Scotch broth mix tempeh is done when the beans surface is completely covered in white mycelium. the whole process took 3.5 days. Congratulations!

I am now going to marinade it in soy sauce and garlic, pan fry and make some Vietnamese spring rolls with peanut sauce dip.

How to make tempeh with black beans

Tue, 22 Jan 2019 15:02:23 GMT

PLEASE NOTE: this tutorial is for colder countries where the temperature in your house is no more than 22C. If your room temperature is above 27C, there is no need to cover the beans with tea towels or electric blanket. Just leave the batch in a safe place. How do I know when the house is around 27C? If I walk around the house in a tank top, or my underwear, or bikini. Heatwave, baby!

I love making black beans tempeh as it is easier to make since there is no requirement to split the beans and spent hours removing the hulls.

Ingredients:

500 grams of black beans
5 tablespoons of 5% acidity white vinegar or apple cider vinegar or a tablespoon of lemon juice
2 grams - 3 grams of Tempehtation starter (please check the instruction on the label)
Clean tap water

Equipment required:

A large pot to soak and boil the beans
A strainer
Clean utensils
Satay stick to make holes in the plastic bag (or a large needle if you have one). Sanitise the stick by pouring hot boiling water on it and leaving to dry for 1 hour
Clean dark tea towels and a thick blanket
Plastic zip lock bag (this can be reused) or biodegradable plastic bags

After rinsing, the beans must be soaked and immerse overnight.

Prior to cooking, strain off the water, rinse under the tap several times and replace with fresh clean water.

Add 5 tablespoons of vinegar. Switch on the hob and as soon as the water starts to boil, switch the timer
and cook for further 6 minutes (if using an induction hob or gas). If using electric hob, put the timer on 10 minutes. Scoop off and remove the froth out of the pan.

Strain off the water, let the water to drip off and leave to cool for at least half an hour.

Once cooled transfer to dark tea towels. The beans may stain the worktop and cooking equipment therefore please be careful and choose a dark tea towel. Drying the beans is unnecessary.

Add 3 grams of Tempehtation starter and mix through evenly.

Transfer to zip lock bags. Ensure that the bags is not too thick at maximum of 2cm if you are a beginner. Once the tempeh making technique is mastered you can experiment with thicker batch.

Perforate using the satay stick at a distance about 1cm.

The beans have expanded from 500 gram to 897 gram.

Place the packed beans on a clean tray and wrap it around with 2 clean thick bath towels. The incubator temperature I need for black beans tempeh was 27C. Leave the beans undisturbed.

After 24-30 hours some tiny condensation and tiny white spores will appear . Remove the towels carefully and leave undisturbed in the same room.

Black beans tempeh is done when the beans surface is completely covered in white mycelium. the whole process took 4 days in the winter. The contrasting colour of black beans and white mycelium is stunning. Congratulations!

How to make tempeh with mung beans

Sun, 13 Jan 2019 14:27:19 GMT

PLEASE NOTE: this tutorial is for colder countries where the temperature in your house is no more than 22C. If your room temperature is above 27C, there is no need to cover the beans with tea towels or electric blanket. Just leave the batch in a safe place. How do I know when the house is around 25C? If I walk around the house in a tank top and the windows are open.

Mung beans can be purchased in Chinese supermarkets, health stores or online. It is easier to make mung beans tempeh as there is no requirement to split the beans and spent hours removing the hulls.

Ingredients:

500 grams of soaked or small sprouted mung beans
5 tablespoons of 5% acidity white vinegar or apple cider vinegar or juice of a lemon
2 grams of Tempehtation starter (please check the instruction on the product label)
Clean tap water

Equipment required:

A large pot to soak and boil the beans
Satay stick to make holes in the plastic bag (or a large needle if you have one). Sanitise the stick by pouring hot boiling water on it and leaving to dry for 1 hour
Tea towels, thick blanket and an incubator
An electric fan (optional)
Plastic zip lock bag (this can be reused) or biodegradable plastic bags
A strainer
Clean utensils

After rinsing, the beans must be soaked and immerse for over 8 hours. If sprout is desired, after the initial 8-hour soak, rinse and transfer to a clean jar or bowl then cover with a cloth. it will take about 24-36 hours for tiny sprouts to appear.

Prior to cooking, strain off the water and replace with fresh clean water.

Cook from the point of boiling for 8 minutes (if using an induction hob). Alternatively , steam for 20 minutes or if using InstantPot, steam for 5 minutes.

Strain off the water and leave to cool.

Allow to dry on double tea towels. Dry until there is no more surface moisture.

Add 2 grams of Tempehtation starter and mix through evenly.

Transfer to zip lock bags. Perforate using the satay stick at a distance about 1cm. Ensure thickness no more than 2.5cm.

The beans have expanded from 500 gram to 900 gram.

Place the packed beans on a clean tray and wrap it around with 2 clean thick bath towels (it was -2C here). Ensure that the minimum room temperature is at 19-20C. I used an electric blanket as an incubator with temperature set at 27C. Leave the beans undisturbed.

After 24-30 hours some tiny condensation will appear. Remove the towels carefully and leave undisturbed in a cooler room.

Here they are looking beautiful. Mung beans tempeh is done when the beans surface is completely covered in white mycelium. Congratulations!

How to make tempeh with split soybeans - updated

Thu, 10 Jan 2019 13:45:31 GMT

Once upon a time I was a very busy girl and the thought of making traditional soybeans tempeh truly killed my appetite. So I found a shortcut by using a corn grinder than can be found on Amazon or eBay. This gadget saved me 2 hours of dehulling by hand. Hallelujah!

PLEASE NOTE: This tutorial is for colder countries where the temperature in your house is no more than 22C. If your room temperature is above 27C, there is no need to cover the beans with tea towels or electric blanket. Just leave the batch in a safe place.

How do I know when the house is around 27C? If I walk around the house in a tank top, or my underwear, or bikini. Heatwave, baby!

Equipment required:

A corn grinder/flour maker to grind soybeans (can be purchased on Amazon or eBay)
A clean container to soak the soybeans (ensure no trace of oils)
A tea strainer to scoop soybean hulls
A large strainer
A large pot to cook the beans
An electric fan
Plastic ziplock bags or biodegradable ones
A clean satay stick to make holes in the bag (or a large clean needle) - sanitise this by soaking in boiling water and leaving to dry for 1 hour
A clean cookie tray/oven tray
A clean large towel and several tea towels
An incubator

Soybeans tempeh is the traditional tempeh as it is consumed in its country of origin, Indonesia. In this tutorial I use 1kg of soybeans.

Ingredients:

1kg of cracked soybeans
5 tablespoons of white vinegar or apple cider vinegar or juice of a lemon
2 tablespoons of rice flour
3 grams or a heaped teaspoon of Tempehtation starter

Once the beans have been cracked and split, shake the beans container and the dry hulls should move to the top. Soak the beans overnight (minimum of 6 hours) The beans will expand and the hulls will float to the top. Stir gently and scoop them up. This is the most exhausting step of this tutorial, but hang in there because the result will be worth it.

Pour out the beans into a strainer and rinse the beans until the water runs clear. Remove any hulls that are visible. Don't worry if a few hulls remain attached.

Put the beans into a pan with enough water to cover them. Add the 5 tablespoons of vinegar and cook for 20 minutes (if using induction or gas hob) or 30 minutes if using other hobs. As you can see from the above picture, I have scooped up further hulls from the pan.

This is the result after boiling 20 to 30 minutes. Most hulls have been removed.

Drain off the water in a strainer and leave the beans to cool.

Use an electric fan to dry the beans. Turn the beans roughly every 20 minutes to ensure that they dry evenly. Drying may take up to 2 hours. Remove any visible hulls and then add the rice flour and mix thoroughly.

Sprinkle Tempehtation starter evenly to reduce the risk of spoilage and to increase the speed of fermentation.

Transfer the beans into the ziplock bags. Fill them up, seal the bag and then perforate using the clean satay stick at a distance of about 1cm. This will allow the spores to breathe and thrive. Press the bag flat with the thickness no more than 2.5cm.

Place the packed beans on a clean tray and wrap it inside a large thick towel. Ensure that the minimum room temperature is at 19-20C. I set my incubator temperature (an electric blanket) at 27C. If the temperature inside your incubator exceed 32C and unsteady then the tempeh might be ruined. Therefore try to keep the incubator temperature between 27C-31C and steady.

After 20 hours, some tiny condensation will appear. Great news! Remove the towel and leave the beans in a safe place undisturbed.

Hello beautiful! After 36 hours the soybean tempeh is ready. Store in the fridge for 3 days, freeze or cook straight away. Congratulations!

How to make tempeh with yellow split peas

Wed, 09 Jan 2019 10:50:59 GMT

How do I know when the house is around 25C? If I walk around the house in a tank top, or my underwear, or bikini. Heatwave, baby!

I prefer to make yellow split peas (YSP) tempeh as it is easier to buy the ingredients in the supermarket or local shops. It is also easier to make as there is no requirement to split the beans and spent hours removing the hulls.

For beginner tempeh makers, I recommend learning the craft using yellow split peas. After mastering this you can move on to soybeans and other beans. A good friend of mine even said that YSP tempeh is more fragrant and softer than traditional soybean tempeh.

Let's start with the ingredients:

Ingredients:

500 grams of yellow split peas
5 tablespoons of 5% acidity white vinegar or apple cider vinegar or the juice of a lemon
2 grams of Tempehtation starter (please use the instruction on the product label)
Clean tap water

Equipment required:

A large pot to soak and boil the peas
A large strainer
Satay stick to make holes in the plastic bag (or a large needle if you have one). Sanitise the stick by pouring hot boiling water on it and leaving to dry for 1 hour
Tea towels
An electric fan (optional)
Plastic zip lock bag (this can be reused) or biodegradable bags

Soak the YSP overnight (minimum of 6 hours)

Prior to cooking, strain off the water, rinse and replace with fresh clean water.

Add 5 tablespoons of vinegar. Switch on the hob and as soon as the beans start to boil, switch on the timer and cook for 15-20 minutes.

Once boiled, strain off the water and leave to cool.

Allow for the YSP to dry on double tea towels. An electric fan will help to dry them faster. Dry until there is no more surface moisture.

Once the YSP are cooled and dry to the touch, sprinkle Tempehtation starter then mix thoroughly. If they aren't mixed evenly, they may fail to ferment properly.

Use the sanitised satay stick to perforate the plastic bag at a distance of 1cm - 1.5cm apart. Seal and press it flat. Use a rolling pin if that helps.

Place the packed YSP on a clean tray (I use a cookie tray) and wrap it in a thick towel or several tea towels. Make sure the minimum temperature in the room is at 20C. The incubator temperature is steady at 27C. If the temperature of the incubator is up and down the tempeh might not ferment.

Once small condensation is visible remove the tea towels and leave the tempeh to ferment.

After 24 hours of condensation the bag should be filled completely with white mycelium. The entire contents should be solid and smell of fragrant sweet mushrooms. Congratulations!

Dirty tempeh fries

Tue, 08 Jan 2019 19:51:10 GMT

Our favourite homemade junk food

We love cooking this snack, which only takes 30 minutes and is packed with protein. Cook the potatoes and tempeh as you would with normal fries and add any toppings you like. We deep fry the tempeh because we like both the chips and tempeh to be crispy.

Use whatever sauce you like, We love dipping the new Hellmann's Baconnaise and Sriracha mayo. There is always a chilli sauce in our cupboard to add a kick!

Lets get cooking!

Ingredients

Potatoes and sweet potatoes

300 grams of tempeh, cut into French fries size

Salt and pepper

Oil spray for the potatoes

Sunflower oil to fry the tempeh

Jalapeños and any other pickles that you like

Mayo and Sriracha sauce

We cook the potatoes inside an air fryer for 20 minutes at 200C.

We deep fry the tempeh until brown and crispy for around 7 minutes. Mix them together with the fries, pickles and drizzle with mayo and Sriracha. Enjoy!