Natto 纳豆

What is natto? How to eat it? How does it taste? Where to get it?

納豆是什麼？怎麼吃？什麼味道？哪裡能找到？

The first time I know about "natto" is when I watched my all-time favourite cartoon, Crayon Shin Chan. It's one of his favourite food which I seldom see in Malaysia, and I always wonder how it tastes. It's hard to imagine that it will taste nice by its description!

我第一次知道“納豆”是在我看蠟筆小新的時候。納豆是他最愛的食物之一，在馬來西亞也不多見，我就很好奇到底它的味道是怎樣的。而且通過形容也難以想像它會是好吃的！

Crayon Shin Chan:"Natto has a nasty smell, it's sticky and slimy, but the taste is just irresistible~"

蠟筆小新：“納豆臭臭的，黏黏的，但這個味道就是這麼的讓人沒有抵抗力～“

Finally until 2014, I travelled to Japan with my family. The hotel breakfast served a variety of food, including the traditional Japanese breakfast. Natto is one of it - the Japanese love rice and natto just goes with it so well. It is kept in a small polystyrene box, exactly like the one in the cartoon, and I finally get a taste of natto. It is just like what crayon shin chan said: "Natto has a nasty smell, it's sticky and slimy, but the taste is just irresistible~"

終於在2014年，我和家人一起去了日本旅行。飯店的早餐提供了不同種類的食物，包括日本的傳統早餐。而納豆就是其中之一 - 日本人很愛吃飯，而納豆則是很下飯。飯店的納豆就放在一個個小小的保麗龍盒子裡，和蠟筆小新裡面的一模一樣，而我也終於嚐到了納豆的滋味。其實蠟筆小新形容得一點沒錯：“納豆臭臭的，黏黏的，但這個味道就是這麼的讓人沒有抵抗力～”

What is natto? 納豆是什麼？

Natto is one of the traditional food in Japan. It is fermented soybeans which contains high value of nutritions, including protein, amino acid, enzyme, vitamin B1 and E...To be brief, it has the health benefits of reducing cholesterol and blood pressure, absorbing calcium, strengthening the bones and improving digestion - you could find almost no drawback of it. Natto has over a thousand years of history in Japan, which may be the secret of the Japanese longevity!

納豆是日本的傳統食品，由黃豆發酵而成，是營養極其豐富的食品之一，包括了高蛋白、氨基酸、酶、維他命B1、E等等。。。簡略來說，食用納豆可以幫助排除部分膽固醇、降低血壓、幫助鈣質吸收、強化骨骼和促進消化等等，幾乎是零缺點的寶物。納豆在日本已經有超過一千年的歷史，我想這也是他們延年益壽的秘方之一吧！

How to eat it? 怎麼吃？

They say that a picture worth a thousand words. I absolutely agree to it. Here's a picture by picture guidance on how to eat natto ;)

他們說，一圖勝千言。我完全贊同。以下是我圖文並茂為大家帶來的納豆基本吃法教學 ;)

This is what it looks like in the store - It's usually in a pack of 3 or 4. Mine is 3 in a pack.

Natto differs in size, the big one is just like the size of those soybeans that you often see, and the small one is about the size of green beans. The one I bought is the smallest one, as shown by the golden words on the package. There is no actual difference between them other than the size, but I personally prefer the smaller one, as it's easier to be mixed with rice.

這是納豆在商店售賣的樣子。它通常是3或4盒裝，我買的是三盒裝。

納豆其實也有分大小，大的就像平時看到的黃豆那般大，小的差不多就像綠豆吧，而我買的是像綠豆般的“極小粒”包裝。其實這大小並不影響味道，只是看個人選擇，而我本身覺得極小粒更能拌飯，所以喜歡買這樣小的。

This is how a sole box of natto looks like. The polystyrene box is needed to keep it fresh.

p/s: Natto is stored in the freezer after manufactured, so if you open it immediately after purchasing, you will see a very thin layer of ice on top of the natto, and the natto itself is so hard that you cannot eat it right away. My suggestion is to keep it in the chiller (NOT freezer) after you bought it, so the natto could be defrost while keeping it fresh.

這是單獨一盒納豆的樣子。為了保鮮，納豆都需要用保麗龍盒子來裝。

備註：納豆在生產後都是放在冰凍庫儲藏的，所以剛買回來即刻打開的話會看到一層冰霜，納豆本身也還很硬不能馬上吃。所以通常買回家後我都會把它放在普通冷藏櫃，解凍又保冷，下次要吃直接拿出來就可以了，不用再等它退冰！

This is how it looks when you open the box. A small pack of wasabi/mustard and japanese soy sauce will always come with the natto as they are essential seasonings, or the natto will taste bitter. There is a small piece of plastic layer to separate the seasonings from natto.

這是打開盒子後呈現的樣子。由於納豆本身的味道帶苦，每一盒納豆都一定配有小包裝的芥末和日本醬油作為必要調料。納豆上面則是有一層薄薄的塑料膜將納豆和調料包隔開。

Remove the thin plastic layer and you will see the little sticky cutie below it!

撕開塑料膜，就可以看到又小又黏的可愛納豆啦！

Add the wasabi/mustard and soy sauce onto it. I like the flavour of them so I bought extra wasabi and soy sauce to season it - just feel free to adjust the portion of seasoning according to your preference!

p/s: Be careful when you open the seasoning bag as they could be easily spilled, hold the side but not the centre of it.

接下來加入芥末和醬油。我本身覺得加多一點味道更好，所以另外買了芥末和醬油來調味。這個依照個人口味而定，喜歡多少就自己調整喔！

備註：打開包裝的時候小心不要讓內容物濺出，抓著旁邊不要按著包裝中間哦。

Stir it with a pair of chopsticks.

用筷子開始攪拌。

Stirring is a very important step as it will produce sticky fluid as shown above - it is the nutrients of natto and which is what makes the natto goes well with rice, or the dish will be too dry.

攪拌是這當中十分重要的一環，因為攪拌之後納豆才會產生更多黏液，之後才能拌飯吃，要不然吃的時候就會覺得太乾澀。而這些黏液也是納豆菌所產生，越攪越營養呢！

And there you go, the natto is ready to eat! When you pick it up there will be lots of "strands" connected, just as the pulled cheese in pizza. It could be quite messy when you eat it, that is why I prefer to eat it alone rather than with people. :p

經過這些其實並不複雜的流程，納豆就可以吃啦！當你用筷子夾起納豆的時候會看到許多牽絲，就像比薩裡的起司一樣。身為不優雅的食家，我吃的時候還挺狼狽的，所以我都會在獨自一人的時候吃，而不會在人前吃。:p

Rice is the perfect match for natto, and it's how you should eat it. Of course you can choose to eat natto by itself but it will be too salty - it is not how you savour natto. I chopped some green onions to match them but again, this is just personal preference (and how ShinChan prefers it haha). And then you should... care no more rules, just mix them well and enjoy your simple yet nutritious meal!

飯是納豆的絕配，也是你初嚐納豆最應該搭配的食物。當然你要直接吃納豆也無不可，但是味道會太鹹太單一，也絕不是品嚐納豆該用的方式。另外我還加了蔥花拌納豆飯，但這只是個人選擇（也是小新的選擇哈哈），可加可不加。然後。。。就沒有然後了，豪邁地把它們攪拌均勻，就可以享用這簡單又營養豐富的一餐了！

How does it taste? 什麼味道？

As could be seen from the pictures, the outlook of natto is sticky, slimy and stringy. As for the taste, it's really hard to describe, as no words could describe it accurately - for starters, it has a pungent smell which already scare some people away. I searched online and found people described it as "old cheese" or "old socks", but as a natto lover, I seriously could not relate! When you taste it, the texture is just like any cooked beans, which is mushy. Without topping it on rice or noodles the natto is bitter by itself, as I mentioned, and I somehow get a taste of coffee from it. I guess it's just that there are a thousand Natto in a thousand people's mouth ha! Up until this point, I don't know why but I get frustrated from trying to describe the taste of natto. If you ever wonder about it, just TRY it. It's not like frying cockroaches or roasted mice, it's just beans. Pure and innocent beans. You will either love it or hate it, just like the blue cheese in Western countries, durian in Southeast Asia or stinky tofu in Taiwan. Try it and tell me which kind of Hamlet it is in your eyes!

外表上來看，就如同圖片所示，納豆黏黏稠稠，豆斷而絲連。就味道而言，納豆的滋味真的難以形容 - 先從嗅覺上說吧，納豆的濃烈味道足以讓一些人望而卻步，第一次聞到的納豆味道可以用“臭”來形容，但身為納豆愛好者我實在不願把這個字套用在納豆上。至於味覺，納豆本身的口感和其他豆類並無二致，就是有點粉粉軟軟的，但通常大家都不會一粒粒地吃納豆，而是會將它拌在飯或麵食裡。像我在上面提過的，它本身有點帶苦，我甚至吃出了咖啡的味道。我想這就是所謂的“一千個人嘴裡有一千種納豆“吧哈哈！話已至此，我不知為何對於形容納豆滋味感到了不耐煩。如果真的好奇個中滋味的話請自己去嘗試吧，又不是什麼炸螞蚱烤老鼠的，它的本質就只是個天真無邪的黃豆，吃就吃了唄。就如同西方國家的藍起司、東南亞的榴蓮和台灣的臭豆腐，你要嘛愛它要嘛恨它，試過才不留遺憾。趕緊試了然後告訴我它在你眼裏是怎樣的一個哈姆雷特吧！

Where to get it? 哪裡能找到？

Here's an additional part to my original post as some people may wonder where to get natto in Malaysia - it's actually pretty common nowadays! You can find it in most of the Japanese restaurants, just check out the Starters or Sides section in the menu. Or you can try looking out for it in the frozen food department in the supermarket (especially the Japanese food section, it's so popular now!), it is often put together with frozen gyoza (dumplings) or edamame (green beans). If you are living in the Western countries such as UK, it will be available in most of the Asian marts. Go ahead and grab it! :D

這是我在發文之後另外增加的一小段，因為我突然想起有些朋友可能會好奇馬來西亞哪裡能找到納豆 - 其實現在納豆還挺普遍的，去到任何日本餐館幾乎都能找到，店家通常都會把它列在菜單的前菜或小菜底下。或者你可以到各大超市的冷凍食品部門找找，尤其是日本食品專賣部（多虧日本食品的高人氣現在很多地方都有），納豆通常都會和冷凍餃子和毛豆之類的擺放在一起。如果你身居西方國家，去亞洲超市通常都找得到納豆喔！趕快去買來嘗試吧！:D

The photos are not very nicely taken but I want to share these natto dishes with you - from left to right there is natto rice ball, natto maki and tamagonatto wih tomato. Inspired by ShinChan! <3

這些照片並沒有照的很好，但我還是想和大家分享我的納豆食品 - 從左到右分別是納豆飯糰，納豆紫菜卷和納番茄豆煎蛋。靈感來自於小新！<3

#Natto #Fermentedbeans #Japanesenatto #Japanesefood #納豆 #日本納豆