Seasoning to cultivate | Bouillon de Légumes Koji

Hello! This is Inazo.

Vegetables, especially leafy greens, spoil quickly, don't they?

　Before the vegetables rot in the fridge, I also make bouillon cubes as part of cleaning the fridge, and when I tried it with koji, something delicious was created. I wonder why I never thought of doing this before!

　Bouillon de Légumes refers to 'vegetable broth', and I don't think it has to be made with specific vegetables, but this time I mixed in aromatic vegetables that are relatively available!

　When making regular bouillon cubes, you sauté in oil and set with oil, but since this is koji fermentation, it doesn't use oil, so no extra calories are added.

　It's versatile for adding bacon to make soup, pot-au-feu, stews, rice cooked with ingredients, zosui, pasta sauce, and more.

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【Ingredients】 ※Only the ratios are written. Please adjust according to the amount of container and vegetables.

・Storage container

・Blender

・Scale (or measuring cup) ※Decide the amount of rice malt and salt based on the quantity of vegetable paste.

・Rice malt...35 　　　   

・Hot water (50-60℃)....35

・Favorite salt...8 (about 7g for a small 1)

A vegetable 100 ※This amount results in about 800ml when finished.

・White peppercorns...about 10 grains

・Bay leaf...1 leaf (or the photo shows thyme.)

▶view! Dried rice koji, bulk 500G (white koji No. 2 strain)

▶view! Natural salt from Okunoto / Sun-dried flat kettle method

【How to make】 * Steps 1 and 2 are the same as my salt koji.

1. Rehydrate the rice koji with hot water.

　　Place the rice koji in a bowl and break it up if there are any clumps.

　　Add an equal amount of 60-degree water to the koji, mix it well, then cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit for 1 to 2 hours.

　　If you don't have a kitchen thermometer, mixing equal parts of boiling water and 20-degree water will give you about 60 degrees.

　When the temperature exceeds 65 degrees, the activity of the koji mold drops significantly. Adjust the temperature in a container without koji before mixing it with the koji.

2. While it's sitting, sterilize the storage container.

　Please wipe the inside with alcohol. If you don't have any, be careful of burns while sterilizing by boiling.

　Since the salt concentration is low, let's put effort into managing the bacteria!

3. Chop the vegetables roughly and put them in the blender.

Incredible color.

3. Measure the vegetable paste and calculate the amounts of rice koji and salt.

4. Add rice koji and salt to the vegetable paste and mix.  　

5. Put it in a storage container.

6. I want to say whole white pepper and... bay leaf, but since I didn't have it, I added thyme instead,

7. Cover it and leave it at room temperature for two weeks.

　　Since it was made into a paste, I think it will be fine, but just in case, I tried both with and without a cover of plastic wrap. As a result, it was fine without it!

　　Like with the salt koji, I mix it every day.

One week later... the ochre color has started to take on a reddish hue.

Two weeks later, it became even redder,

Completed! /

I wanted to use a transparent soup or sauce, so I blended it further to eliminate the rice grains.

Oh dear. The beautiful redness has disappeared (sad).

　I quickly made soup and pot-au-feu! The seasoning was just bouillon koji. It was a delicate and deep soup that could have been made by Inazou! Thanks to the koji fermentation, the saltiness and the sharpness of the vegetable flavors were smoothed out, resulting in a bouillon that was unexpectedly mild!

This time there were many red and white vegetables, but

When you add spinach, it instantly turns green. Also, please try making it with lettuce, komatsuna, broccoli, etc., before they spoil.