For those of you who enjoy natto, or have somehow become accustomed to it over the years, how do you like to eat it?
I only started liking natto a little bit when a student told me to mix it with a raw egg, a bit of soy sauce, and leek – poured all over a bowl of freshly-cooked rice.
Recently, instead of using soy sauce, I’m using either chinese pepper or fermented chili bean paste (豆板醤).
Thinking of trying a mix of miso paste, umeboshi, and a bit of mirin next.
I guess I enjoy how these strong tastes mix with the natto.
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Old school. Don’t need nothing fancy to hide the stank.
And yeah, I mix in the からし too.
Usually I buy in bulk, fill up the bathtub, wait a day, then enjoy a nice dip. It feels so nice between your toes.
And yeah, I mix in the からし too.
When they don’t give it to me for breakfast in the hospital. It is always horrible.
I’m a heathen and I eat straight from the pack with no adornment most mornings. When I have more time to actually sit down to eat: the karashi and some soy sauce; nice olive oil and salt/pepper; some yukari furikake; are my go-to. Add-ins I like are thinly sliced okra or less frequently negi. Roasted sesame seeds are great too.
Mixed with rice and the sauce and mustard that comes with it. I also put chopped green onions on top. I love it with some iron enriched mango juice (for the women here: natto is iron rich. Very healthy food to eat when you need to replenish your low iron levels).
I don’t particularly enjoy eating it with rice (wife loves it), but in the summer I probably make and eat neba neba udon with natto, okra, and yamaimo at least 1-2 times a week.
I find it goes down well in the bottom of the bin on burnables day.
I usually just eat natto over rice by itself, but I really enjoy mixing in some キムチ鍋の元 and じゃこ.
I have a German friend who spreads natto over nutty German-style toasted bread. I tried it and it’s fine, but rice works for me.
I enjoy it from a distance, usually as far as possible. Rest of the family loves it, those nasty buggers.
Karashi, no tare.
I like mine reluctantly.
I like it with jalapeño and hot sauce.
In the trash
I add a small spoonful of layu, and that’s it. add that to rice, 10/10
Sometimes if I don’t have rice, I just scoop it up on a senbei to eat it. My favorite is the puffed purple rice senbei, very good crunch.
I mix it with tuna and mayonnaise inside a jacket potato.
Put some Tabasco in it
If you make chahan with natto it removes all the unpleasant qualities of natto being of course the smell and slime. You end up with something very tasty. I refuse to eat natto any other way because I can’t get over the smell and slime.
Funny how OP asked “those who enjoy natto” and a lot of answers come from those who don’t.
Anyway, I recently enjoyed natto by upping the nebaneba. I mix it with TKG. Something I discovered at Sukiya: raw egg, soy sauce, katsuo flakes, and okra. I add a dash of chili flakes for more flavor and spice.
Partnered with tonjiru, it’s an amazing luxurious meal.
my japanese host mother first served it to me on thick shokupan toasted with a drizzle of mayo and sauce on top, now i prefer it with udon noodles/over rice
except now remembering this makes me want it over thick shokupan again
Mostly just with the karashi and tare packets they have inside the container. I usually get extra karashi too since nobody else in my family uses it and they give me theirs.
The 豆板醤 idea sounds really good too, sounds like something to try next!
I mix in umeboshi. Love it.
No natto no life. I eat it with rice and nori, as well as the karashi and tare in the pack.
karashi and shouyu.
but lately ive added some diced green onions to it because the kid likes it that way, adds some nice texture and flavor
With katsuobushi, aonori, hanjuku tamago, kewpie, shoyu, and a bit of yuzupon
I don’t like natto not because of smell or taste but because I hate the sensation of sticky stuff getting onto the area around my lips.
That said, if offered I will eat it without hesitation.
The traditional way and topping is simialr to what your student mentioned, with raw egg and spring onions bits, mixed with tare provided (I don’t know about soy sauce…? might work), over rice or other carb.
(/edit: clicked send too early by accident)
But then if you only find it more enjoyable mixed with something strong, go for it, nothing wrong with that, so long you don’t waste food it is all good!
I simply mix the sauces that come with the pack and eat with white rice.
raw egg and a squirt of mayo
I told someone that I found the smell off-putting and was recommended Niowa natto which takes away the smell.
I’ve experimented with different sauces for it, so far I’ve enjoyed it with yakisoba sauce, hot sauce, and sambal (Indonesian chilli sauce). Yesterday I had it like we from the UK would have beans on toast, but with a little well in the middle where I dropped a fried egg.
On rice, on toast, straight out of the polystyrene. I use the dashi packet and about half the karashi packet. If there is no dashi packet I use a bit of men-tsuyu. If I have them I add chopped green onions. I also like slapping a bit on a sheet of nori and making a mini maki.