Your stories and questions

Your stories

This page is for you - the Your stories page is a resource for ideas, problem solving and sharing your successes.
I love seeing what is being created and the novel solutions to tempeh and tofu issues.
I am always happy receive your questions, to post your great results and your failures, to broaden our knowledge base and help each other.
It gives me great satisfaction to be able to provide a great product and get such warm responses from my clients. This heartening mail is from Alex:
Thank you for your personal note Nirala,
I understand that in these times smaller traders are often overlooked in favour of eBay/amazon based sellers, however I tend to research
Where I source product from and you seemed to have an integrity and transparency to your passion for Tempeh that I noticed straight away.

Tofu Presses

MY Story: time poor this week, I had to abandon my plan to make tofu for the book club dinner and succumb to buying tofu at the supermarket.
The label stated it was made in Australia and was made with soy beans, water and Mineral Salt 511 (magnesium chloride). Its best by date was 3/8/21. Packed in a plastic bag with the recycling directions only as 'return to store'! It was not guaranteed gluten free (probably due to the packaging process.) That all seemed okay.
The tofu was more than firm, it had an open rubbery texture that seemed to indicate it had been frozen at some stage. I sliced, rubbed with a little oil and cooked in a sandwich press. The taste and smell was odd, bitter and musty. Even after mixing with a spicy sauce, the unpleasant taste was still obvious. I threw the whole batch out and am hoping the chickens liked it!
I rushed out to shop in a different store. To my dismay, they only stocked their home brand. The coagulant was calcium sulphate. I chose a 'slightly firm' option after squeezing the packs ever so gently. Again, made in Australia, the expiry was 14/7/21. Sadly, it was packed in a plastic tray covered in plastic film though directions were given on how to dispose of them. A much better product, a lovely creamy texture that sliced well and had a lovely cheese melty texture after cooking. I had no need to disguise it, merely sprinkled with some toasted sesame seeds and watched it all disappear.

Boil?

Can you recommend how to prepare my tempeh before freezing it? Should I just boil it for 15 minutes and then freeze? The answer is that there is no need to boil or blanch before freezing. The taste and texture is so much better than after blanching.

Okara & Rhizopus

Christine at Thousand Mile Tofu has made a successful block of okara tempeh using rhizopus starter, as did Helen, below.

Helens' Okara

Here's my okara tempeh made in brown baking paper and incubated in a bamboo steamer.
Its incredibly delicious and creamy. Esp with sriracha chilli sauce.
Your red product hasn't arrived yet. I'll use it next time.

Thousand Mile Tofu

Thousand Mile Tofu are using calico bags to ferment tempeh. Look for her products at the Albany Farmers Market in WA or see on Facebook here .
Look at how the rhizopus thrives in fabric, compared to plastic.

This is Christine's tempeh made from okara.

Tempeh in Glass

Hello Nirala,
Tried the tempeh fermenting in the glass tray......it worked. Here are some pics.
I didn’t cover the glassware at all except it being in the incubator and being covered by the lid of the esky.

Bunny

No bags!

Luke from NSW has come up with an alternative to single use perforated bags. It looks fabulous and he assured me it passed the taste test!

Great result Luke!

Can I use tofu to make desserts?

Yes, there are some really quick and healthy recipes for sweet treats.
Here are a few.

Tofu Baked Cheesecake

Is there an alternative to soybeans for making tempeh?

Yes, absolutely!
Most legumes are suitable for tempeh making, some with the added bonus that they are available as splits (pre hulled).
Try combinations of split peas, chick peas, mung dal, lupin, lentils. You can also add small amount of cooked rice or sunflower seeds.

Fried slices of lupin tempeh

Red Oncom Experiment

This is Sebs story: I attempted my first batch this week. I used a 200g block of Okara and half the oncom starter so that I can make two separate batches to further experiment. I followed the instructions but I don't think it went very well.
I've attached a before and after photo of my Okara block. It looks like the mycelium didn't get a chance to grow as much as I've seen in other pictures. Is this starter for the orange or black Oncom? I got a mix of light orange and dark brown colours.
I incubated at 35°C for 36 hours. I then left it another 12 hours to see if I could get a stronger growth but it doesn't seem to have had much of an effect. The smell became quite strong towards the last half of the fermentation.

Thanks Seb, it seems that 30 degrees might be a good temp to start it.
I have seen a site where they dry the okara with a towel first like beans.
Mixing in a tablespoon of vinegar to the okara can help.
No one has cracked it yet...
We will all keep trying!
NOTE: black spots are signs the fungi have sporulated and are not a huge problem. I don't recommend you eat any product that smells strongly (unless it is meant to!)

Kerrys' cooking

Kerry O was lucky enough to have banana leaves to experiment with. Turned the result into a delicious dinner of sticky tempeh (the recipe is in the book!)

Luke T's tempeh is a winner!

I just wanted to say thank you and to share my results with the tempeh starter! As my incubation temp was a little cooler it took around 48 hours for the rhizopus to appear but when it did I had great results and an amazing flavour! I'm going to be buying more starter soon!

Banana leaves

Banana leaves are the traditional wrapping used for tempeh fermentation and give a great result if you can source them.

What happened?

Lukes third batch had problems. I asked Raprima for help with this and this was the reply:
This got too hot in the centre, killed the spores....open the lid for ventilation and cool air once it starts to produce heat...... environment of 25 Celsius is ok for finishing, cold take a bit longer but heat spoils.

Crumbly
Tempeh?

Allies' tempeh crumbled instead of slicing.
She had missed dehulling her beans so the literally the rhizopus slid off the beans.
A small proportion of unhulled beans or seeds are fine.

Yellow Split Pea Tempeh

Hey Nirala
Thank you!
It was quite an experiment, haha.
I had the dehydrator on at it’s lowest setting of 41 degrees C, with the door open, and a wet tea towel draped over the front to act as a sort of door, for about 24 hours.
Then I realised that there wasnt really much heat in there, so I began closing the actual door and opening every few hours, until I saw some mycelium growing.
At around 40 hours I saw some white mycelium growing.
I then took the tempeh out of the dehydrator and into my warm bathroom. The warmest room in the house. I kept my heater on in the bathroom, so the temperature stayed between 22-24 degrees C. I kept the tempeh in the bathroom for about 25 hours.

So, it was quite an expensive experiment (with the bathroom heater being on) but worth it, and fun! Now I have some sort of an idea of how the tempeh process works. I’m keen to make an incubator following your instructions, later in the year. I'm sure that will be much easier.
Lara xx

Tofu plus Tempeh

This photo was sent to me by Simone, who came across this product in a wholefood store in NSW. She says: The packaging shows all the traditional ingredients of tempeh and tofu along with some tamari. By the taste of it, I’m assuming they make the tempeh, crumble it then marinate it in tamari before dropping it into the tofu curds before pressing. Fabulous flavour and texture. Made vegan rendang with it last night; just scrumptious!

Imogens' first

Another first

I am seriously impressed with Joes first batch of tempeh: soybeans, chickpeas and black beans, ready after 24 hours.

Milla asks: What is the problem?

What has happened is that the tempeh has been left too long and the rhizopus has fruited. The grey are the spores (just like a mushroom).
Once the white mycelium begins to appear, the tempeh needs to be cooled. It generates its own heat. You may need to open or take the lid off remove before the mycelium totally covers the beans or the high temperatures kill the rhizopus.
If you put it in the fridge (not in a stack) it will continue growing till firm.
If it smells fresh and nutty, you can still eat it. If it smells a bit like ammonia, don't.

Burgers by Daniel

First attempt with my latest batch of MR tempeh starter. Split peas, yellow & green, plus channa dal = Excellent result! Sliced in half to be used in a tempeh burger.
Thank you Daniel, looks great.

Do you know what this is?

It's firm tofu marinated in miso paste then fermented known as tofu misozuke or tofu cheese. It can be flavoured with tea, chilli or herbs, and it is the only non dairy cheese I have tasted that actually taste like cheese. Delicious! Have you tasted it? What did you think?
Here's the recipe

Tony's tempeh

Another great result! Tempeh loves the summer warmth.

Can I add flavourings to tofu when I make it?

Seaweed, dried herbs, chilli flakes and grated vegetables can be added to firm tofu before coagulation. Chopped walnuts are often used in traditional tofu making for special occasions.

Favoured tofu for sale in Vietnam

Tempeh can be made with a range of of legumes and grains and most pantries will have something you can use. Split peas are excellent for tempeh making as they are prehulled. Chickpeas and other beans will need hulling unless you buy channa or moong dal splits. You can add a proportion of unhulled lentils to other tempehs, together with seeds and rice.