Homemade "soy" sauce

Being a from scratch cook, I'm always up to challenges to make food more frugally and using substitute ingredients that otherwise aren't available where we live. Here in Tunisia they aren't big on Asian foods - there's no such thing as an "world food aisle", or however you want to call it, in the supermarkets here, like we were used to in the Netherland. Maybe this is different in the capital city, but certainly not around these parts. And to be honest, having adapted to the local cuisine I don't really miss Asian foods either, as the local cuisine is just as delicious. Epecially after minimising the variety in dishes I cook, there's not a big need for most "foreign" ingredients. However, there are some dishes I use soy sauce for, and soy sauce isn't a thing that's available here. Recently, I saw a web shop that sold soy sauce for an absolutely ridiculous price, and I wasn't tempted to order it. Especially since I make my own, much cheaper, alternative! After moving here I initially just made do without, but then I found some recipes online and adjusted some things here and there until I perfected my own "soy" sauce recipe! 

For one batch* you'll need: 

4 heaped spoons of plain white rice, the cheapest you can find                                    

Half a spoon of fenugreek seeds                 

One spoon of cocoa powder                              

3 cardamom pods        

Some black peppercorns and cloves (not really counted them, not too much, probably about 4 cloves and 10 black peppercorns)

A teaspoon of ground ginger

A teaspoon of black tea 

3 tablespoons of sugar 

4 vegetable or mushroom bullion cubes (I use vegetable as mushroom cubes aren't available here, but I guess mushroom would enhance the flavour quite a bit. But vegetable bullion cubes are OK too) 

Half a teaspoon of salt, or a bit less, since the cubes are already quite salty 

2 spoons of vinegar 

3 cups of water

Boil the rice in the water. Now I usually cook rice using the absorption method, but not for this specific recipe, as you'll need the starchy rice water. So boil the rice in 3 cups water. When it's done, drain the rice. Now to the rice water, add in all the remaining ingredients. Start off by mixing in the cocoa powder using a whisk, since it can become quite lumpy, and then add in all the other ingredients with no specific order. Let it simmer until around half of the water has evaporated and let cool. Once cooled down, strain the sauce (preferably using a mesh sieve) and discard the whole spices. 

Just some notes: 

*By one batch I mean I can fill several small (250 ML) bottles. Since this sauce doesn't keep very long in the fridge, I usually freeze my sauce and just keep in the fridge the amount that I'm using right away. 

By 'teaspoon' and 'tablespoon' I don't mean the ones that are used for measuring, but the ones we eat with. One "eating tablespoon" is somewhat bigger than a "measuring tablespoon". 

You can leave the tea out- it's just there to enhance the brownish black colour - I used only cocoa powder at first, but I've found that using some tea along the cocoa, it made a better colour. But you can leave out the tea if you prefer or use a brown/black colouring instead. 

Homemade broth can be used instead of the cubes, although the results might vary. I've used different types of broth for this, but the cubes really give the best results in my opinion. I'm not very fond of using a lot of bullion cubes because of the MSG they contain, I must admit, so I don't use them a lot. In fact, this is one of the very few ways I'm using them for. 

Make sure you use your rice! Whether it's added to a soup, or making rice pudding out of it... Whatever you feel like making with the rice, just don't discard it, ok? 😬

Of course, for most people soy sauce is easily available, so this probably isn't everyone's cup of tea. Still, I'd probably be making this even if soy sauce were available here (and decently priced). Because it's easy, tastes just as good (in my opinion, anyhow!), and I just like making my own foods I guess. It's also good for people who avoid soy for health reasons, which is also why I still wanted to share this recipe.