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Soy and legumes from Nepal

Maseura / masyaura (fermented black-gram balls, Nepal and Sikkim)मस्यौरा

Maseura is a dried, fermented black-gram product from Nepal. Soaked, dehulled black gram is ground wet, mixed with grated vegetables such as colocasia, radish or ash gourd, shaped into small balls or cones, fermented and dried until hollow, brittle and spongy. It is cooked into curries and soups.

Fully documentedSoy and legumes16 h

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe control recipe of a 2018 laboratory study based on Subba's 1985 method, 2 parts black gram to 1 part colocasia. Household recipes vary with the vegetables at hand.
Black gram2 partsCleaned, soaked overnight, dehulled and wet-ground[Bhattarai2018]
Colocasia tuber1 partWashed, peeled, shredded and blanched[Bhattarai2018]
Mashed potato18.75 parts in place of black gram (optional)Rated best of the potato levels tried; it made the balls hold together better[Bhattarai2018]
Starterspontaneous; the traditional product is naturally fermented [Dahal2006]

Total time across the recorded steps: 16 h

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Close-up: water moving into a piece

What changes: Black gram soaks overnight and the hulls are removed

Step 1 of 5
Clean, soak and dehull the black gram
Time
Soaked overnight
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Bacillus
Yeasts

Output: dehulled black gram.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
swollen
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Maseura is a dried, fermented black-gram product from Nepal. Soaked, dehulled black gram is ground wet, mixed with grated vegetables such as colocasia, radish or ash gourd, shaped into small balls or cones, fermented and dried until hollow, brittle and spongy. It is cooked into curries and soups. Made in 5 steps over 16 h. The longest step, dry, takes 14 h (Bhattarai G 2018) and runs at 60 °C (Bhattarai G 2018). Lactic acid bacteria: Lactobacillus fermentum, L. salivarius, Pediococcus acidilactici, P. pentosaceus, Enterococcus durans and Bacillus: B. subtilis, B. mycoides, B. pumilus, B. laterosporus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step14 hReported[Bhattarai2018][Dahal2006]Dry
Temperature60 °CReported[Bhattarai2018]Dry

What makes this one different

Maseura is a black-gram paste mixed with vegetables, shaped into balls and dried, with a mixed lactic, Bacillus and yeast flora [Tamang2016]. Tamang, Watanabe and Holzapfel list it among the fermented black-gram foods, next to the wari of India, and describe it as dry, ball-like and brittle [Tamang2016].

Related ferments

Variants

  • Mechanically dried masyaura (Nepal)Made from black-gram dhal and colocasia tuber with controlled fermentation and mechanical drying; in the study it was rated better by sensory tests than sun-dried masyaura, more friable and lower in bulk density, with comparable nutrition [Dahal2006].

Safety

The dried balls reach a final moisture of 8–10 % and are stored at ambient conditions [Bhattarai2018].

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Bhattarai et al. (2018) cite Gajurel and Baidya (1979) for black gram with colocasia, or radish and ash gourd, as the raw materials depending on what was available, and for its nickname "meat for vegetarians". They list later work on it, from Subba's 1985 selection of the best pulse and vegetable proportions and Subedi's 1999 soybean-enriched version to Deo's 2003 study of fermentation time and temperature, and note that quality varies between the communities that make it [Bhattarai2018].

  1. [Bhattarai2018] Bhattarai G., Bhandari S., Khadka D.B. 2018, Effect of adding mashed potato on physiochemical and sensorial properties of masyaura, Himalayan Journal of Science and Technology 2:59–65, doi:10.3126/hijost.v2i0.25845paper
  2. [Tamang2016] Tamang J.P., Watanabe K., Holzapfel W.H. 2016, Review, diversity of microorganisms in global fermented foods and beverages, Frontiers in Microbiology 7:377, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2016.00377 (table 4, citing Chettri and Tamang 2008)paper
  3. [Dahal2006] Dahal N.R., Li Q., Gu G.X. 2006, Sensory, biochemical and nutritional characteristics of masyaura, legume based traditional fermented food of Nepal, Food Science (Shipin Kexue) 27(9):62-68 (abstract)paper