Natto Experiments

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Three ways to spice up your nattō experience:

Natto Experiments from Daniel Morales on Vimeo.

Garlic Nattō – This is the only original recipe of the three. I came home Tuesday after work feeling sick and decided that I was clearly suffering from garlic insufficiency. I didn’t have much else in the fridge other than a couple of packages of nattō, and thus garlic nattō was born. It actually does a surprisingly good job of covering up the beany funk. You can add red pepper to taste (add after turning the flame off). Not bad. Final answer: ★★

Avocado Wasabi Nattō – This was recommended by a former classmate. I often eat avocado alone with wasabi-jōyu (I love saying that word… wasabi-jōyu) as a side dish for sushi or other Japanese food. One of the English teachers I worked with in Aizu recommended it to me. He said it tastes just like maguro, which it kind of does! It’s not a bad match with nattō, either. Next time I’ll be sure to use a larger portion of wasabi-jōyu, you can see in the video that the portion I use just barely covers the avocado. Final answer: ★★★★

Cheese Nattō – My town used to serve this for school lunches sometimes. The cheese they used was white and much milder. Cheddar has a better bite to it. It doesn’t mask the nattō funk as much as the garlic, but it does give it a cheesy kick. Pretty tasty. I had a small serving of niku-jaga as a side dish, a very nice match. Final answer: ★★★

9 thoughts on “Natto Experiments”

  1. Here’s a better way.

    Two slices of toast (whole wheat in my case, which is rare in Japan) with margarine or butter.
    Put a slice or two of cheese on the bottom piece of toast.
    Mix your natto up well.
    Put your natto on the cheese and cover it with the second piece of toast.

    Now you have a toasted natto sandwich with cheese.

    PS I never eat natto with rice, this sando is much better and I’ve hooked several Japanese on it.

  2. Valiant effort, but for me the taste is a lost cause. I eat it because it covers three breakfasts for 88 yen.

    That avocado one does look good though.

  3. DEREK: Hmm…interesting. I dig vegemite and cheese sandwiches, but I’m not sure I could handle the combination of the ぱりぱり of the toast and the ねばねば of the natto. I mostly eat it plain – faster and much less hassle.

    Daniel L: Definitely nice on the wallet. The 100-yen Lawson near me sells a 4 pack for 105 yen. Pretty sweet deal.

  4. Yay you tried my suggestion! :D

    You can also add a hanjuku-tamago for added creaminess.
    If you want to get rid of the nebaneba-ness, chopped umeboshi does the trick. (makes it taste more sappari)
    Also, to get rid of the funk more, you can add coarsely-grated pepper to any of the experiments.

    Great video!

  5. Ah ha, black pepper was your other suggestion. Umeboshi is another classic. I’ll have to give those a shot. I needed the song to be a little longer… it was tough to squeeze these three in. Thanks again for the avocado suggestion!

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  9. I love the video, it made me drool all over my keyboard. I definitely gotta try the avocado wasabi natto.
    But yeah, like DEREK said, natto cheese toast is one of my favorite ways of eating natto as well.

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