Ingredients:
1 cup dry chickpeas (or another bean)
1 cup koji (starter)
4 Tbsp sea salt (2 and 2)
Reserve 2 cups cooking liquid from the beans
Optional: 1 Tbsp of seed miso (I used 2yr aged, brown rice miso)
Method:
Soak chickpeas overnight in a bowl on the counter. Drain and rinse after at least 8 hours of soaking. Cook in fresh filtered water. Reserve 2 cups of the cooking liquid. Place the cooked chickpeas into the food processor and blend into a paste. Combine 2 Tbsp of salt with room temperature cooking liquid and blend to make a brine. Then add koji to the brine. Optional: Separately blend the seed miso with a little bit of the reserved liquid from the beans. If doing this step, add this blended seed miso to the beans and koji. Make sure the final paste is like a paste: thick, not runny.
Prepare your fermenting vessel by making it wet inside, so that salt will stick to the bottom and sides of the container. Add your paste and make sure to not have any air bubbles. sprinkle salt on top. Cover with wax paper to keep it from drying out. Place a weight on top. Cover with plastic and a rubber band to prevent oxygen from getting in or use an airlock. Leave it culture on your counter for 1-2 months. I am letting mine go longer (3 months) so that more of the beans are fermented by the koji spores.
I recommend labeling what it is and when is the earliest date possible is to harvest, you can always go longer. At harvest time, scrape off the mold and any yuck that is on top. Miso below should be good to go! The koji grains will still be hard from a short period of fermentation, so blend it in a food processor (add a little water, if necessary). This will make a smooth paste that you are familiar with.
Refrigerate it, after harvest, in a glass container with a plastic lid. I prefer glass to plastic, so that minimal chemical leaching is happening into your beautiful miso. Place a piece of wax paper on top of the miso, then put the lid on and Voila!