How to make tempeh with black beans
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.
- 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
- 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!






