I cook a lot of asian food that frequently calls for black bean paste. Since I rarely have some on hand, I was wondering how hard it is to make.
After searching Google a bit, I found they it isn’t made from the regular black beans you get at the grocery store, but rather it’s soybeans that have been fermented.
Would it be tough to find the ingredients and make this at home? Ever do it yourself?
Any good recipes for it, or decent ways of making a passible substitution?
No takers?
I get mine from EthnicGrocer.com. You can also get a prepared sauce.
I adore garlic black bean sauce with pork. And fish. And scallops. And so on.
Almost forgot, when I’m making the sauce myself I chop up some of the beans (rinsed if you’re not into real salty), mix with minced garlic, ginger, some rice wine and a bit of chicken stock. You can add a little cornstarch if you want it thicker. (Some recipes also add soy sauce but I think it’s salty enough without.) Slop the sauce on sparerib chunks, maybe throw in some sliced scallions, steam and you’ve got heaven on a plate.
I cook with black bean paste quite often. Here is how I prepare it:
First you need fermented soy beans, as you said. I prefer Pearl River Bridge brand Yang Jiang Preserved Beans. You should be able to find this in any Chinese market.
Measure out the amount you wish to use, and rinse under cold water. This step is important, the beans are preserved with a massive amount of salt and unless rinsed, the paste will be way too salty.
Mince up a couple of cloves of garlic, aprox 1 part minced garlic to 2 parts black beans. You can vary this according to taste.
Mix the beans and the garlic together in a mortar/pestle and grind them lightly into a paste. You don’t want to make a smooth paste or anything, you should still be able to see a good amount of the beans intact.
That’s it, use it in cooking as you see fit!
Thanks for the advice guys.
Have any of you ever tried fermenting the soybeans yourself, or is that too much trouble to be worth it?
Never tried it myself, it does seem like too much trouble, given how cheap it is to buy a whole bunch in one package.
You’re probably right, I’ll just have to spend some time investigating the local Asian markets.
That’s always fun anyway, I just usually end up spending too much money!
