Tag Archives: Miso

Friday Fry-Jacks with Miso Dip.

May 8, 2015 Munchkin

Today started off with grey skies and heavy rains hence, we were at a bit of a loss on the farm. So, we came up with a great idea to go into town, on a whim, to buy some fry-jacks for breakfast. For those of you who are not familiar with this Belizean breakfast fare, it is half or quarter circular shaped piece of flat dough which is deep-fried in cooking oil. It has a lot of baking soda in it to make it puff up as it cooks; some people preferentially place a slit in the dough so that it deflates after it poofs up. It is usually served in the morning with re-fried beans, pork, beef or chicken. We bought the fry-jacks as a take-out so that we could take them home to Munchkinise them…that’s what I do best!! It was actually quite funny because I had not bought fry-jacks for ten years and so I was still working with old prices. When I walked into the eating place, I asked, “can I have a dollar fry-jacks, please?” The lady gave me a bewildered look at said that there was no such thing as a dala fry-jack and a portion cost $2.50. Oh my, we do sometimes live in a time warp because we don’t keep current with eating out prices.

Back home, I stuck the fry-jacks in the oven, on low heat, to keep them warm. And, then I made:

Munchkin’s Miso Dip

1 tbsp miso

2 tbsp honey

6 bird chilli peppers, chopped finely (optional)

Mix all ingredients together and use as a dip.

This miso dipping sauce is not just for fry-jacks. It is also great for french fries, corn tortillas and all manner of snacky foods. If you want to a bit healthier, carrot or celery sticks will also do the trick. The dip is sweet and savoury at the same time with a definite umami quality; the hot chilli adds a kick to it!

We had a lovely breakfast:

(picture missing)

Can you believe it!!! The picture was corrupted and could not be down-loaded! We only realised it after pigging out on all the fry-jacks!

As a consolation, here is another picture of us eating:

You know what this means…we are going to have another fry-jack day so that we can get a picture. When I told Gnome, he had no objections to repeating the binge again.

I do not actually have a recipe for fry-jacks because I have tried a couple of Internet recipes which don’t seem to have the correct ingredient portions. I think that the regular person on the street who knows how to cook fry-jacks does not Blog! One day, I will get it right and if I do, I will surely post up the recipe for all you fried-dough fans!

Belize, Farming, Fermentation, Food

Full of Beans!

April 11, 2015 Munchkin

Gnome was full of beans this morning and brimming with energy right from the get go. He was out of the house by 5.30am with the brush-mower clearing the back of the farm. I started cleaning buckets and basins, started a big pot of beans on the stove and washed sheets for koji making. It was bean mania and the various bean preparations continued to exude beaniness into every square inch of the house.

When we finally met up again, Gnome had grated coconuts and I proceeded to squeeze the cream out of them. I then laid out the coconut meal in the sun for the making of flour.

After this, it was back to the beans. The night before we had decided upon making a “meatier” hatcho miso and so today we made Beef Jerky Hatcho Miso or as Gnome has coined it “Meat Lover’s Hatcho Miso.” This involved putting 20 cups of fresh black bean koji and 2 lbs (1kg) of beef jerky through a meat grinder.

There was a few cups of black bean koji left over so we decided to make a small batch of Taosi which is a Filipino fermented black bean preparation, made by soaking the koji in brine.

Next we took the freshly cooked beans from this morning and added more Aspergillus spores to start a continuous batch of black bean koji. Our goal is to fill a 55 gallon drum with hatcho miso…more about that in a later post!

We then had a brief intermission for food and refreshments. For those interested, we still think that it is important to sit down and eat two proper meals a day, despite all the frenzy and excitement. We had Chinese roast pork, pumpkins and shiitake mushrooms cooked in mead and sweet potato cakes.

Anyway, the next task was making Shinshu miso with the mountain of bungle beans from the freezer. This was Gnome’s idea since I had been giving him such a hard time about the bungle. Yes, we used up all the beans so problem has been solved. We made 2 and 1/2 gallons of this…ready in one year!

Phew, it has been a bean marathon. We were done by 2pm.

Munchkin and Gnome: Mad About the Beans!

Belize, Fermentation, Our Products, Saving Money, Soap

Hatcho Miso Belize Style.

April 9, 2015 Munchkin

Miso Madness is almost over as the Munchkin is starting to feel twitchy over our dwindling supply of soap…

…which means that our run of frenzied fermentation is coming to an end and the previously, prematurely terminated Soap Marathon is going to have to resume (yeah, our soaps are really popular and people just can’t get enough of them; this is A Good Thing, she tells me ;-P).

After the frenzy of rice koji making and the resulting shinshu and shiro misos, we are ending our run with a couple of pig tail buckets of hatcho miso. The first bucket was made two days ago, however, it turned out to be about a gallon short because I held back some of the black bean koji to reinoculate the next batch of beans. There was a slight set-back with that particular batch (yes, yes, I’m sure you’ve heard about the Great Bean Bungle…let’s move on…) and to make a long story short, another batch had to be introduced into the equation. Anyway, back to the short bucket: I just “happened” to have a gallon batch of miso from last year which was made with cacao beans and while very aromatic, the chocolate taste was just too overpowering (yes, chocolate-lovers, this is actually possible!). So, we emptied all of the containers, mixed them together again with the addition of bird peppers (Korean-style??) and a generous handful of black peppercorns.

Mixing Black Beans, Last Year's Chocolate Miso, Chilli Peppers and Black Peppercorns. — Mixing Black Beans, Last Year’s Chocolate Miso, Chilli Peppers and Black Peppercorns.

And voila’, the first full bucket of Belizean Style Chocolate (Cacao Bean) Hatcho Miso (with chilli and black pepper) was born:

Time to start thinking about soap…

Belize, Fermentation

First Active Blub from Melomel.

April 3, 2015 Munchkin

Good Friday to all and a Good Fermentation Friday too! We just got our first active blub from the melomel…this is when it starts bubbling through the air lock. It is a very important milestone in childhood…oh no, I mean fermentation development (another Doctor joke)! With experience, the Blub Blub comes in different pitches and this one is rather tinkling, melodic and rather loquacious. Gnome says it sounds like it wants another sibling…oh no, he means another fermenting bucket for company!

Anyway, let us get give you an update on our fermentation adventures: Firstly, we had to sadly dump the two gallons of coconut shiro miso, which we had so joyfully made up last week. This was on account of the dreaded Bongkrek. Last week, we read an article on Tempeh Bongkrek which is a variety of tempeh prepared with coconut. This food has now been banned because it can get contaminated with Burkholderia gladioli which leads to the release of bongkrek acid which is lethal to humans. Being doctors, we started thinking about this a whole lot and wondered if we had made Bongkrek Miso! And Gnome said that it would be really embarrassing for the demise of two doctors in Belize to be attributed to coconut miso (death by coconut)! After that comment, I decided to use the coconut miso as compost around the farm!

Gnome wants to ask a question to any microbiologist out there: is there any risk of bongkrek with miso (made with coconut) which has already been innoculated with Aspergillus oryzae?

To make up for this unfortunate mishap, we made some shiro miso today…just with regular black beans…nothing too exotic.

We had a look at our bucket of soya sauce which was started in July 2014 and gave it a whizz with the paint stirrer:

We felt that the soya sauce was rather thick and paste-like in texture and therefore we made an executive decision to just use it as miso. It tastes similar to miso, a bit more acidic and fruity but nonetheless palatable. This solves the problem with the miso shortage until the new shiro miso is ready in June.

Belize, Fermentation, Food, Saving Money

Miso Madness V…The Next Generation.

March 27, 2015 Munchkin

On this day the Miso Mission has been accomplished. The rice koji was ready and properly colonised and both of us were in the right frame of mind, with only a mild attack of filibustering on Munchkin’s part (she had very specific plans as to what she expected to do this morning), to tackle the mountain of beans and gallons of purple-black bean juice (from boiling said beans) required for the making of our Belizean-Style Black Bean Shinshu Miso.

The black beans were defrosted, boiled to tenderness (which thankfully doesn’t take too long with black beans), drained and then mashed. The use of words makes things appear so easy but while doing, it certainly seemed that there was a veritable mountain of beans. I left the temperature probe out of the rice koji and room temperature was 36C, so the mashing built up a bit of a sweat.

In the mean time, Munchkin, while muttering to herself that she needed to do other stuff, mixed the bean juice with sea salt, cooled it and added some commercial miso to the mix (for extra lots of beneficial microorganisms). Thank you, Adriana Guzman for giving us some for this purpose.

Black Bean Juice, Sea Salt and Old Miso to Make the Liquid Portion.

The rice koji had to be added to the beans and mixed well. Using a spoon did not work and I had to resort to using my hands…you can see the excitement that was gripping me at the time!

Adding the Rice Koji to the Mashed Beans.

My hands convulse with excitement as I mix everything together!

After adding the liquid portion and mixing again, it was time to fill the prepared 5 gallon pig-tail bucket. This accomplished, a nice layer of salt was added on the top for protection against undesirable microorganisms.

Sealed Bucket...only have to wait 12-18 months now. — Sealed Bucket…only have to wait 12-18 months now!!

What happened next was a total, super bonus for me, though it earned me this look from the Munchkin…

…there was still a whole lot of rice koji left and in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but think of the 28-day Miso Countdown before we run out…the solution…shiro miso. This type of miso is made up mostly of rice koji, only half the salt and a little bit of beans (compared to shinshu). The beauty of it and the reason why it is of critical importance right now, is that it only takes four to eight weeks to mature. Bonsa…we have the answer to our miso shortage!

So, I figured we could make a test gallon of this sweet miso but after measuring out the required koji, realised that we used up all the beans in making the monster bucket; we still had bean juice left-over but no beans. Resolution: fortunately I had already grated the day’s quota of coconuts and Munchkin had already squeezed out the cream from them (for selling in town to people that don’t want to buy cans or powdered coconut cream) and we were left with the meal. We decided to experiment and replace the bean portion of the miso with de-creamed coconut meal. Once the cream is removed, what is left is actually quite high in protein and while not a legume, it might make a good replacement for beans (it also makes things Belizean and exotic!). We still used the left over bean juice though.

The bean juice gave everything a slight purple tinge (pretty cool, actually!)…

Here it is packed into a gallon jar:

You would think that this was enough…hee…hee…hee…but I got another look shot my way…

…there was still another lot of koji left to make another batch…so we did…

Five gallons of shinshu miso and two gallons of shiro miso…not bad for a day’s work!!

Belize, Fermentation, Saving Money

Day Four of Miso Madness.

March 26, 2015 Munchkin

It is hot yet again, slightly more humid though, perhaps. Munchkin is keeping herself busy and has left me to my own devices. I was excited that today was THE day for transformation of the rice koji into miso; afterall, we did soak black beans in preparation and the big pressure cooker was cleaned and readied for action. However, upon close examination of the inoculated rice grains, I made an executive decision and decided to go for another twenty-four hours. The soaked black beans have been transferred into the freezer until the time is right.

While nicely colonised, cracking the rice grain open showed that the mold could still penetrate the grain a bit further. Also, deep inside my gnomish heart, that mad, self-sufficiency streak wants the Aspergillus mold to start fruiting (ie. make spores) so that I can collect the yellow-green spores and replenish my supply for future batches. While not impossible to bring into Belize, the starter cultures are difficult to order and then ship into the country without some hoops having to be jumped through (I’ve got a friend in Japan who feels like he owes me a favour but I don’t want to collect on his good will yet!). Being able to harvest my own spores would free me from this dependency on factors that I don’t have control over. Let’s see if I can pull it off…the plot thickens…

Colonised Rice Grains...not quite ready. — Colonised Rice Grains…not quite ready.

It is hard to assuage Fermentation Frenzy once it grabs hold of you so I had to find something to still my trembling nerves while waiting for the koji to continue its colonisation. I finally decided to rack some mead that has been sitting around settling and aging…I had been dissatisfied with the way this batch has been clearing and decided to do something I usually don’t do: use some gelatin finings to try and clear it a bit more. I was concerned that perhaps it had not cleared well because of contamination and doing this would also afford the opportunity to have a quick taste.

This accomplished, the moment of truth arrived: the presentation of a slightly cloudy glass of non-carbonated mead to the tasting expert, Munchkin. Fortunately and happily (for both of us) the sampling test was passed and I received a smile of approval from Missus Munchkin! Yosh!

Can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow! Cheers to all!

Belize, Fermentation, Food, Saving Money

(Summer!) Miso Madness III.

March 25, 2015 Munchkin

It continues to be hot, dusty and windy…in Sardinia we would say that we are afflicted with scirocco, that wind that comes from the Sahara and North Africa…it feels very similar and makes one feel terribly miserable. Yes, you guessed it, headache is back today.

However, my life is not only bearable but actually exciting…the Spirit of Aspergillus has taken residence in the carefully prepared rice and the next twenty-four hours will lead to our desired goal…rice koji!

It is always nice to open the bundles and inhale the fruity, mushroomy bouquet of a successful inoculation.

The rice grains are covered with a white, cottony growth and you can feel the “live” heat (like having a cat on your lap) emanating from the rice. Everything needs to be transferred into bags as it will overheat and spoil if kept in a bundle.

Time to flatten it all up, stick a temperature probe in and wait another twenty-four hours.

Keep an eye on the temperature…the bags make it easy to spread everything out if cooling is necessary (especially since I’m doing this in “summer” and you’re not supposed to ;-p).

This link takes you to the more detailed instructions I’ve written in making rice koji in the Bored-in-Belize Library if you ever want to do this yourself: Making Rice Koji.

Since we already know that we will be making some shinshu miso from this batch of rice koji, we’ve started the preparation of the beans: cleaning, washing and soaking overnight. We use black beans and not soy beans because a) they (soy) are harder to find and b) we are making Belize/Central American shinshu miso and we want to remain culturally appropriate.

More tomorrow…

Belize, Fermentation, Food, Saving Money

Miso Madness II.

March 24, 2015 Munchkin

Cor blimey it’s a scorcher today! I suddenly feel very relieved that I am on restricted duties. The sun is blazing down, the earth is developing big cracks and the ducks, who normally can’t be bothered to walk the two hundred metres to the pond actually went for a dip to cool off and clean up.

Hard core miso purists will probably look at this post and scoff at me for trying to make miso in “summer,” so to speak (dry season here is like summer), since you are supposed to make it in winter because …….. (fill in blank with the usual stuff that poncy, purist, fundamentalists say when they are trying to put you down and show how much smarter they are than you but I digress…). So, anyway, this is day two of Miso Madness (made in the summer, ha, ha, ha!):

Yesterday’s rice was soaked, drained and steamed.

Overnight-soaked rice being drained thoroughly.

Then the cooked rice had to be spread out and cooled before inoculating with the right Aspergillus mold.

The most pleasurable part of the process is making the final bundle to incubate the rice and get one step closer to rice koji.

Tune in tomorrow for the next stage in making rice koji…

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

Ora Pro Nobis Miso Soup.

March 23, 2015 Munchkin

Hello Everyone!! I am attempting to manage Gnome in the house since his sinus problem seems to get worse every time he does some heavy work outside. I have ordered him to make Rice Koji which takes 4 days in total; I am hoping to preoccupy him with miso making. After all, he metered out a measly 9oz (270g) of home-made miso which we promptly finished in 48 hours and now, I have made him bring the whole gallon jar to the kitchen so I can feel comforted by the presence of a larger quantity. Anyway, if you have read the previous blog, Gnome will have already explained that he has been bestowed the job of Miso Maker. I just need to be patient and ration out the gallon of precious miso.

We have been eating Miso Soup with Ora-Pro-Nobis.

About a week ago, I wrote about this plant Pereskia aculeata, also known as Barbados Gooseberry. I thought it very interesting because this is a popular vegetable in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais and outside of this place, it is not known or consumed. Well, the fact that I do not live in that state does not stop me from eating this vegetable!

I cooked it as a kombu (seaweed) substitute in miso soup and it worked a treat. It has a degree of succulence which makes it similar in texture to seaweed.

As a result of this wonderful discovery, we have decided to grow hedges and hedges of Ora-Pro-Nobis:

What a lovely plant…you can eat the gooseberries too!

Belize, Fermentation, Food, Saving Money

Gnome and Miso Madness!

March 23, 2015 Munchkin

It is day three of the enforced ban on heavy work. Very bad headache yesterday (Tumulkin Day) but fortunately today there have been no problems…just a gnawing inner feeling that the brush really, really does need to be cleared since it is perfect dry season weather for it. Munchkin won’t budge and won’t even allow an elixir tasting to happen (The irony of life: when I want to sit around and do F-all, she can’t wait for me to work…when I’m dying to get off my butt and do something, I’m not allowed…).

So, I’ve permitted myself to be overwhelmed by Miso Madness: I just realized that the test gallon we made is only going to last 28 days!!! That means we have to make at least three pig-tail buckets a year in order to eat miso every day. The frenzy that this knowledge engendered inside my gnomish heart (the Munchkin’s too but she won’t admit it!) got us into town at 0800 on a non-town day to purchase 50 pounds of rice and 50 pounds of black beans…to find out that the Chinese wholesaler was still closed!! We ended up going to Quality Chicken instead and thankfully they were open…BZ$72.50 for 50 pounds of black beans and BZ$44.00 for 50 pounds of rice later, our happy humanoids were rushing home (BTW no diesel in town today)…

We’re going to start with some shinshu miso first and that means making rice koji. Time to wash some rice:

Washing.Rice — Washing all the dirt and starch from the rice (Can you see the gnome foot?).

Have to get all the starch off of the rice so it doesn’t get gummy and sticky at steaming time tomorrow when we enter day 2 of making rice koji…

Casa Mascia Apothecary

Tag Archives: Miso

Friday Fry-Jacks with Miso Dip.

Full of Beans!

Hatcho Miso Belize Style.

First Active Blub from Melomel.

Miso Madness V…The Next Generation.

Day Four of Miso Madness.

(Summer!) Miso Madness III.

Miso Madness II.

Ora Pro Nobis Miso Soup.

Gnome and Miso Madness!

Everything Handmade in Belize.