Sunday, April 11, 2010

Tempeh

Mysweet never ceases to amaze me with his enthusiasms for making things.

It comes upon him to a greater extent in Spring as the sap starts to rise, and is an irresistable urge. It can involve the garden, and when that means growing vegetables I am very happy to help him eat them. Sometimes it takes the form of tearing out walls - or putting them up - or both. I am then very happy to put things in his new cupboards and walk through the new doors.
And, of course, he is still experimenting with the creation of different musical instruments. I am also very useful there. I play them and tell him how they could be improved...

We have been eating a lot of vegetarian food lately, and so he decided to have a go at making tempeh
The procedure requires cooked soya beans to be fermented so that a fungus grows around them, binding them together into a little cake. The difference between a foodstuff fermenting and one going bad seemed a little too close for comfort to me. I did wonder whether a violent death accompanied by stomach cramps might be a strong possibility. I was tempted to check whether he had upped my life insurance, especially after he waxed the stairs the other morning. A pale brown powder arrived from an internet supplier and was added to the cooked beans, which then sunbathed under the light in the oven for a couple of days until the mycelium was fully developped.





He sliced it and fried it with ginger and garlic and peppers and it was.........................

DELICIOUS

5 comments:

Zhoen said...

I believe you, but... that just looks wrong.

Laura Paine Carr said...

ooohh. I was just thinking that it looks beeee-utiful!

now, if my guy was cooking up something fermentable, I would be worried.

Jean said...

I shall continue to think of you eating tempeh every day until you post again!

I miss your take on things, and hope you're feeling well now.

Mike said...

Courage!

Rosie said...

Z, yes I know it is hard to believe that it is really food.
S, we are fond of fermented products, but the French usually make a better job of the grape based ones than we do.
Jean, I am feeling much better and my absence has been more due to pressure of work than anything else. Strange that a holiday from my usual work has made me even busier with other projects...like a funk group. I have spent some days without tempeh though!
Mike...you know the way camembert tastes better than it smells...well apearances can be deceptive too.