This is how to dry bean paste!

Everyone must have had this feeling: when we buy a certain food from outside, although the taste is very attractive, it does not taste as delicious as when we make it ourselves. Because making it ourselves involves some hard work, it tastes more delicious. Take the very practical home-cooked bean paste for example, it can also be made at home. In this case, let’s do it ourselves and have enough food and clothing. Here I will share a method of making homemade sun-dried soybean paste.

Ingredients

Main ingredients: 1/2 pound of soybeans, 1 pound of flour, 4 ounces of salt

Methods/Steps

1. On a sunny day, take a pound of soybeans, wash and soak them in clean water one day in advance.

2. The next day, cook until well done. Cook as long as possible. Drain and let cool thoroughly.

3. After it cools down, add half a pound of flour (raw), mix evenly, and it is ready when you can grab it with your hands and form it into a basic shape. Spread it on a bamboo flat sheet or mat with a breathable bottom, about the thickness of your palm. Cover with cotton wool or something else, it’s better to cover it tightly and thickly. Then put it in a cool place to ferment.

4. Soybeans and flour will generate heat during fermentation. Don’t be too curious and open them frequently to check, or it may catch a cold. After about two to three days, lift a corner of the covering to see if there are yellow spots or white hairs on the surface of the yellow ester underneath. If so, it means the fermentation is successful. The temperature is very high at this time, so you need to dissipate heat by removing the covering. You can turn the soybean blocks over and break them into small pieces to dissipate heat.

5. After returning to normal temperature, you can expose it to the sun. The drier the better. It takes at least three or four days. It would be the most troublesome if it rains at this time, and all the efforts made would probably be wasted.

6. Dried yellow ester has a peculiar fragrance, and you can tell whether it is good or bad by just smelling it. Then, smash it with a hammer. If you are not in a hurry to make bean paste, you can save it.

7. If you want to make bean paste immediately, please boil one pound of clean water in advance and cool it to room temperature. Mix salt and yellow ester evenly, add water gradually, and you can control the thickness yourself. You don't need to add any other ingredients. It shouldn't be too watery or too dry. It just needs to be a little thinner than the bottled bean paste available on the market.

8. Take one or two sealable glass bottles and put the mixed bean paste into them, filling them three-quarters full, otherwise it will overflow later.

Method 1: Add one or two taels of sesame oil into the bottle, then seal it. Store it in a cool, dark place for two weeks or longer. The longer it is sealed, the more fragrant it will be. The bean paste can be eaten when it has a strong aroma. This method is simple and requires no management, but it does not taste as good as sun-dried ones.

Method 2: Place the bottled bean paste under the sun and cover it with cotton or gauze to prevent insects, but do not seal it. The more exposed the better. You can taste it in the middle to see if it is ripe. If it is rainy at this time, it is necessary to cover it with waterproofing. The sun-drying method ensures full fermentation, and the longer it is exposed to the sun, the more fragrant it becomes. If the sauce is too dry, dilute it with cold boiled water with salt.