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Are you anadventurous eater? I am. Out of my passion for food, I have tried some of theweirdest dishes such as lutefisk in Norway and Huitlacoche in Mexico. Talkingabout Japanese food, one of the weirdest things I have tried is Natto. Like itor loathe it, but you cannot ignore it if you live in Japan.
It’sdifficult to tell the taste or experience of eating Natto in one word. It is amix of good and gross, which makes it an acquired taste. While most of thepeople in eastern Japan are crazy about this Asian superfood, westerners mostlyfind it difficult to tolerate the sight or smell of it.
Myrendezvous with Natto was in the form of a Natto maki roll. I went to the sushijoint that I visit often and wanted to try something new this time. I looked atthe menu and Natto maki roll caught my fancy. I must admit that I was taken fora surprise at the taste of it but I was determined to give it a try.
I can’tguarantee that you will like the taste of it, but you will definitely expandthe horizons of your tastebuds and add a lot of goodness to your body. Here isthe easy Natto Maki recipe for you.
Contents
Easy Natto Maki Recipe
This is a traditional sushi roll prepared using a popular Japanese superfood called Natto. To make this roll, you will need the following ingredients:
- Seasoned sushi rice
- 4 tablespoons of natto
- Nori sheet
- Spring onion (finely chopped)
- Sesame seeds
- Wasabi
Instructions
Cook short grain rice in a cooker or pot, and then season the boiled rice with vinegar, sugar, and salt. For detailed instructions, read this article
Place thesushi mat on the working table and put the Nori sheet on it, rough side facingupwards
Take amedium ball of sushi rice and make aneven layer on the Nori sheet
Open apacket of Natto, chop the pieces roughly to make them smaller and add allcontents to the mid of the Nori sheet covering the entire length
Sprinklethe finely cut spring onions over Natto to enhance the taste
Lift thebamboo mat close to you and start making a compact roll. Apply gentle pressureas you roll to bind the ingredients together.
Take a few drops of water and seal the edges of the roll. Next, moisten the blade of the knife and cut the roll into 6-8 pieces.
Serve theNatto maki sushi with soy sauce and wasabi to cover the strong flavor.
Pro tip: You can also make an inside-out version of this recipe. After spreading rice on the Nori sheet, sprinkle some sesame seeds and flip it inside out. Then add Natto, green onions, and roll.
Tuna And Natto Hosomaki Sushi Recipe
What you will need:
- Seasoned sushi rice
- 1 Japanese cucumber
- sushi-grade tuna
- 1 box of Natto (fermented soybeans)
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- Nori sheets
- Soy sauce
- Wasabi (optional)
- Pickled ginger
Instructions
Cook sushi rice in a cooker or pot, and season it with vinegar, sugar, and salt. Find step-by-step instructions here.
Cut theJapanese cucumber into half from the middle width-wise and then slice bothhalves to yield 8 long cucumber strips in total.
Now, cutthe tuna fish to make thin slices about ¼ to ½ inches thick strips
Take theNatto out of the box and season it with soy sauce or use the seasoning thatcomes in the box. Mix until it becomes bubbly and slimy
Cut Norisheet into half and put one half on the working area, rough side facing upwards
Take amedium ball of seasoned sushi rice and spread it evenly on the Nori sheet
Now,arrange tuna pieces, cucumber slices, and Natto in the middle. If the piecesare short, you can add extra at the end
With oneswift movement, lift the bamboo mat from one end and make a compact roll tobind everything together
Press thesushi roll gently using your bamboo mat to ensure that the roll gets a decentshape. Moisten the Japanese knife and cut the roll into equal halves, then cuteach half into 3 pieces.
Natto Negi Maki Recipe
This is yetanother easy and quick to make Natto sushi recipe. Although in this recipe weuse small chives, you may replace it with parsley or coriander.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of cooked sushi rice
- 5 strands of small chives
- 1 pack of Natto
- 1 Nori sheet
Instructions
First, cookshort grain rice and season it with vinegar, sugar, and salt to prepareseasoned sushi rice
When thesushi rice cools, mix chives with rice as the combination tastes great together
Cut theNori sheet into half and put it on the table, shiny side facing down
Take amedium ball of sushi rice and spread it over the Nori sheet
Open thebox of Natto and use half of the content as fillings. Put them at the center ofthe rice layer
Lift thebamboo sheet from your end and make compact roll by pressing gently with yourfingers
Seal theedges with some water and cut the roll into 6-8 equal pieces. Serve with soysauce and wasabi
Other Interesting Ways To Enjoy Natto Sushi
Apart fromusing Natto in a traditional maki roll recipe, it can also be used as a fillingin other types of sushi such as a gunkan maki (battleship sushi) and temaki(sushi cone).
To makegunakn maki, cut out a strip of Nori about 1.5 inches wide. Take a small spoonof seasoned sushi rice and flatten it in your hands to form an oval shape.
Now, wrapthe Nori strip around the edges of the sushi rice and stick the ends with a fewdrops of water. Make sure there enough space on the top of the rice forfillings. Add seasoned Natto on the top and garnish with finely chopped springonions.
To makeTemaki sushi using Natto, cut the Nori sheet into half and toast it slightly.Place the Nori sheet on a working surface, rough side facing upwards.
Take asmall portion of sushi rice and apply it in square shape leaving empty spacesbelow and on the side to make a cone shape.About 2/3 of the Nori sheet should be empty. Sprinkle some toastedsesame seeds on sushi rice.
Now, addseasoned Natto on the sushi rice and garnish with spring onions and cilantro onthe top. Now, make a cone shape by rolling the Nori sheet, and seal the edgeswith a few drops of water.
What Is Natto?
Known asone of the most traditional superfoods of Japan, Natto is steamed soybeans thathave been fermented for a few days. A bacteria called natto bacillus helps withthe fermentation process and turns it into a delicacy that has an acquiredtaste.
Thesoybeans are soft and brown in color, covered with a sticky mucus-like gooeymatter. The stickiness is similar to what you find in okra. You would probablynot consider eating any other food with that kind of stickiness on it. But forsome reason, it is good when it’s on Natto. In fact, it is widely popular as ahealth food because soybeans become easier to digest when fermented.
The smellof Natto is, however, a disturbing element that may put off some people. It has a pretty strong flavor like that ofstinky socks. As some people just can’t tolerate that smell, there are somepeople who are now considering low-odor or odorless Natto. However, Natto fans argue that smell is an importantaspect of the overall experience.
What Is The Right Method To Eat Natto
A typicalpack of store-bought Natto will include the fermented soybeans, a pack of soysauce ‘tare’ and a pack of spicy mustard. The best way to eat Natto is to firstmix it up and then add the toppings that are included in the pack to enhancethe taste.
Nattotastes great with rice, hence it forms a great filling for easy Natto makirecipe. You may also add extracondiments such as grated pickled radish (daikon), bonito flakes, sliced greenonions, and nori seaweed.
A pro tip – If you are a beginner and wish to take your tastebuds for a ride, add a spoon of sesame oil to mask the unpleasant odor. Also, if you don’t want it to be too slimy, avoid mixing Natto too much before adding the condiments. In this way, it will be less sticky.
What Are The Different Types Of Natto
The fermentedsoybeans can be basically of two different types – itohiki natto and teranatto. Both these types differ in their overall taste and structure. Let’sdiscuss the characteristics of each below:
Itohiki natto
This is thestandard type of natto we know and it is often referred to as stringy. It canbe further classified into three types – Marudaizu natto, Hikiwari Natto, andGoto natto.
Marudaizu natto
Marudaizunatto is known as whole-soybeans and they are fermented to become sticky natto.The level of stickiness is determined by the size of natto. If the beans arebigger in size, they are less sticky than the small ones.
If you aretrying to appreciate the weird taste of natto, I would recommend that you startwith the large beans. Marudaizu natto may also be made of black soybean that ismore flavourful than the yellow ones.
The blacksoybeans usually have soy sauce and wasabi on the top. The topping adds a dashof spiciness to the beans and then feels refreshing when you start chewing. Theblack natto usually has a weaker smell that does not bother people who don’tlike the smell.
Hikiwari Natto
The secondtype of natto is grounded in nature, and it is basically made by roastingsoybeans. Whole soybeans are first ground, peels are removed and then they areboiled. The type of natto provides more surface area for the bacteria toferment the beans, thus making them the stickiest of all.
Hikiwarinatto is also easy to eat for its small size and it tastes comparativelyfresher than the marudaizo natto. The level stickiness is higher in thisvariety and this can be your next step in learning to appreciate the taste ofNatto.
Goto Natto
This is thefermented variety of koji, natto, and salt. It takes around one week for thismixture to ferment and taste perfect. At times, gotto natto may be made usingless salt and sold under the label ‘Yukiwari Natto’.
Tera Natto
The secondtype of natto is Tera Natto. Initially, natto was made by monks of the Buddhisttemples known as ‘Nassho’ and this is how the superfood got its name. Terranatto is more like the fermented and delicious black soybeans that tastesimilar to red miso and it is less sticky in nature.
Tera Nattois produced using Koji-mold and then salt is added to it. The mixture is thenkept undisturbed for fermentation that takes nearly six months to complete. Itmay be used in making Natto sushi or added to dishes like miso soup.
How To Make Natto At Home
While youcan always purchase a box of Natto from an Asian grocery store near you,there’s nothing like making homemade stuff. Below you will find easy steps tomake Natto at home.
Cleaning
First, youneed to put all beans in a bowl of water and wash them by rubbing together. Begentle to ensure that you do not pull out the skin. If the soybeans have soilor debris on the surface, this can have an adverse effect on making Natto. Sowash them carefully.
Soaking
The nextstep is to soak the soybeans in water for about 15 hours. The water temperatureshould be around 10-15 degrees Celsius. In the summer months, soaking only for6 hours in water with a temperature of 20-25 degrees Celsius may be enough.
Boiling
When thewater temperature is high, just enclose the bowl with a plastic sheet and keepin the refrigerator for 24 hours. It allows the soybeans to expand about fourtimes more than its actual weight. So, 500 grams of soybean may use up about 2liters of water.
Now boilthe soybeans until they become so squashy that you can easily nip them withyour fingers. When the fermentation process starts, the soy beans will hardenin texture so make sure you boil them well to turn tender. It takes nearly 30minutes in the pressure cooker to become enough soft.
Preparing the solution
To make the Natto solution like this, you will need to dissolve the Natto starter in water. Take 10 ml of water, pre-boiled and then cool it to room temperature. Now, dissolve 0.1g of Natto starter (1/5th of a small spoon) in water to ferment the soybeans.
Adding Natto solution
Pour the solution like this over the soybeans and mix them well. Keep the solution prepared beforehand so that you can pour it as soon as the beans are boiled. If you let the temperature drop, this may lead to bacterial contamination
Fermentation
Transfer the contents into a food warmer. You may use a proofer like this or the food warming function of the pressure cooker. Let the soybeans sit in the warmer for 24 hours in order to ferment. Try to maintain a favorable temperature of 40 to 45 degrees Celsius while beans are in the warmer.
Afterkeeping the beans in the warmer for 24 hours, they will look well fermented.However, the beans will carry an overwhelming ammonia smell at this stage.
Cooling
Allow thefully fermented Natto to cool and mature in the refrigerator. As the beans restinside the fridge for a day, the amino acid content of soy protein enriches theoverall flavor of Natto. Once it becomes fully mature, the flavor of ammonia vanishes.Delicious Natto is ready to serve.
How to properly store fermented Natto
If you donot wish to eat Natto immediately, consider storing it inside the refrigerator.When left outside for a long time in high temperature, the amino acids canbreak down and cause ammonia to smell. Storing it in the fridge makes it gooeyso it’s upon you to decide how long you wish the beans to ferment.
Related Questions
What is thetaste of natto
The fermented foods usually have an acquired taste and it may take more time for your tastebuds to acclimatize to Natto. While it is worth acquiring, Natto has a unique, taste, smell, and texture. Although the smell may put off some people, it tastes really good. Mix it with soy sauce and chopped onions to enhance the flavor. It goes well with steamed rice.
Why isnatto slimy and sticky
Natto ismade by fermenting soybeans with a bacteria named Bacillus. While thefermentation process improves the nutrition content of soybeans, it alsodevelops a unique flavor and texture. It feels sticky and gooey as a result ofthe fermentation process.
What is thedifference between Natto and Tempeh
Both Nattoand Tempeh are made of soybeans but they differ a lot in terms of taste andtexture. While Natto is sticky, slippery and slimy, tempeh is more like a densecake. Natto has a slightly bitter taste while tempeh is more earthy and sweet.The former originated in Japan while tempeh traces its roots in Indonesia.
Can you freeze natto？
Yes, youcan store Natto for several months in the freezer. However, once it is completely thawed, youmust consume it within one week. To store correctly, press a piece of unbleachedparchment paper or cheesecloth to retain the moisture. Store in an air tightbox and keep inside the refrigerator.
Can you eattoo much natto
If you haveacquired the taste for Natto, you are lucky because you are giving lots ofnutrition to your body along with great food. While Natto sushi is a great way toconsume this superfood with rice, I would recommend eating only one-cup servingeach day. Anything more than that may have an adverse side effect.
Is Nattosafe for pregnant women?
The fermented soybeans contain an active bacteria called Bacillus subtilis so you may wonder whether or not it is safe while pregnant. Well, a study has revealed that pregnant women who consumed Natto frequently gave birth to babies with a lower risk of eczema. Hence, it is not only safe but also good for your baby.
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