Stinky Sticky Beans & Yam

Other than live octopuses, penis fish,  fried roaches, refried worms and stinky rotten tofu, one of the bizarre foods that Asian culture offers is Natto. This stinky, sticky combo of raw grated ‘yamaimo‘ or  ‘Japanese mountain yam’ or ‘Chinese yam’ is da bomb! I totally had a period of Natto Craze, downing two Styrofoam packs of this yummy fermented textured goo without the yam-  with mustard, cayenne pepper black pepper and coriander- all in a go.

Penis Fish: Don’t they make you go mmmm…?

Photo Credits: Dunkoman

I bought like a week’s supply at the Korean Supermarket and I betcha the Korean aunties  probably thinks I’m like on some sort of Natto diet (based on the natto scam that died down a year ago) convert going “tsk, tsk, poor girl, so out of touch.”

But hey, I seriously like natto! Mmm…but not more than pie.

It was only after reading Just Hungry’s yamaimo, okra and natto bowl recipe and watching Kimitaku slurp homemade goo in Change that I thought that maybe I would  give that  Miyazaki-looking root a try.

Instructions for creating this is rather odd. I read in some Japanese website that ya supposed to heat the root under a flame. Which is impossible cos’ I only have an electric stove. Er..but I did anyways. So, I telling you guys it’s a waste of time. (like ya’ll don’t already know) Next, you have to grind it with a Japanese looking mortar, which I too lacked. Heck, I don’t even have a mortar.

What I did was a super simplified version of it, without the grinding.

The consistency of the grated yam isn’t smooth and slimy enough if you don’t grind it, so you end up with a really coagulated  paste with natto. Blurh. But I finished the whole yam in a week anyways cos’ you all know how cheap I am. Or maybe I should just buy a mortar (.)_(.)

Click to share this blog post on Twitter!  

Filed under: Raw Vegan Recipes

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!