Loving Soybeans w/ Chef & Farmer Ria Ibrahim

Ria Ibrahim, Farm to Table Director at Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY holding soybean plants grown using regenerative, afro-indigenous practices.

Ria Ibrahim, is the Kitchen Magician, Chef, Farmer and Farm to Table Director at Soul Fire Farm. She has a deep ancestral passion for food, coming from an Indonesian family of farmers, fishermen and chefs. Her cooking and teaching is intimately connected to the traditions of her homeland and now to the land she calls home in upstate New York. She weaves skills as a forager, farmer, and fermenter into her culinary creations and is a master of eliminating food waste in the kitchen. Ria recently co-hosted a day-long workshop on Building a Relationship to Soybean, teaching participants how to make multiple soy-based products including miso, tofu and soy milk - to preserve the harvest and work with this bean that is both fundamental and sacred to so many peoples across Asia and the earth. In this interview she speaks on this and so much more including learning lessons in herbalism and spirituality of plants/farming from her mother and how she’s passing on these lessons to her own daughter.

Ria shared the community scale miso making recipe, which we have posted below.

You can follow Ria at @kitchenmagician on Instagram for fabulous videos and food and foraging content (including some incredible videos of tempeh making at her family’s village in Indonesia from 2023). To sign up for notices about future workshops and soooo much more join the Soul Fire Farm newsletter. There’s a great workshop tomorrow, Dec 2, 2025 from 3-4:30 EST on Spirituality and Farming with Ria, as well as Leah Penniman and Misty Cook (flyer at bottom of this page).

COMMUNITY MISO MAKING RECIPE 

by Ria Ibrahim

Red Miso made from soybeans grown at Soul Fire Farm. This is the end of the batch made three years ago, almost gone - just in time for the new batch made during this year’s workshop.

INGREDIENTS : 

• Organic dried soybeans : 10 lbs / 4500g

• Koji* : 15 lbs /  6800g

• Sea salt : 5.7 lbs / 2600g

• 70-100 proof vodka or everclear to sanitize: 1 cup 

• Extra salt to cover plastic wrap
  *We purchased long-term, 6 month+ koji from RhapsodyNaturalFoods.com (Vermont)

EQUIPMENT:

• 25 ½ pint wide mouth mason jars 

• 3 large stock pot 

• 3-4 food processors 

• 5 medium mixing bowls 

• Plastic wrap 

• 1 big roll paper towel 

• Hairnet (we have in program kitchen)

• Food service  gloves 

• 2 large mixing bowl 

• Labels for jar (name and date)

STEPS : 
2 day before Miso making 

1. Wash soybeans until the water runs clear. 

2. In a large bowl, soak soybean with lukewarm water overnight. 

A day before miso making 

1. Wash the soaked soybean 

2. In a large stock pot boil soybean until tender (7 hours ) put in the fridge with remaining water. 

3. Mix koji and 5.7 lbs sea salt let it sit overnight 

Miso making day 

1. Sterilize jars by boiling a big pot of water ½ pint jars for 3 minutes. After sterilize set aside 

2. In medium low heat warm up the cooked soybean. 

3. Making soybean paste in food processor : blending soybean 10 cups at the time in large food processor by adding a little bit of soybean water from the pot until looks like a paste (Hummus consistency)

4. In a big large bowl add koji and salt mix and then add the soybean paste until well combined. 

5. In ½ pint sterilized jar add the miso paste into a jar very tightly. Sterilized the mouth of the  jar with vodka. And then cover the surface of miso paste with plastic wrap tightly and then add ¼ c of salt to cover the plastic wrap to seal the jar. Put the lid on. 

6. Cover the jar with dark cloth to let the miso ferment for 6 month to a year. 

December 1, 2025