Creamy with a natural mild sweetness, Amazake or sweet sake is a popular Japanese hot
drink during the New Year's.  Made with rice koji, it is also a healthy drink to improve your immune system.

Amazake (Fermented Japanese Rice Drink)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 rice measuring cup uncooked Japanese short grain rice (1 go = one 180-ml rice measuring cup = 150 g = 5.3 oz)
• water (See the instructions for cooking the rice porridge)
• 1 cup water (240 ml) (for cooling the porridge, you may need more or less)
• 1 cup Rice Koji (200 g, 7 oz)

INSTRUCTIONS

Prepare Porridge:

1. In a rice cooker bowl, add the rinsed short grain rice. Add water until the 1 cup porridge water line. If there is no porridge water line, add water to the regular white rice 4 cup line. Cook the porridge according to your rice cooker’s instructions (or Press “Porridge”).

Combine Rice Koji and Porridge:

1. Once the porridge is cooked, the temperature is around 175 ºF. Take out the rice cooker bowl from the rice cooker.
2. Gradually add water, 1/8 cup at a time, stir thoroughly and measure the temperature of the porridge. The temperature has to cool down to 140 ºF (60 ºC) as koji mold cannot live above that temperature.
3. Once the porridge has reached 140 ºF (60 ºC), add the crumbled rice koji. Stir thoroughly to incorporate. Make sure there is enough water to cover the rice and rice koji so they are sufficiently soaked.  If not, add warm water so it maintains 140 ºF (60 ºC).
4. Put the rice cooker bowl back into the rice cooker. Turn the rice cooker on to “keep warm” (or "extended keep warm") setting and cover with a cloth towel. Leave the rice cooker lid fully open so it does not get too hot. Allow the rice to cook for 8-10 hours, stirring occasionally and checking the temperature of the mixture every hour for the first 2-3 hours. Make sure it stays between 125 and 140 ºF (50-60 ºC) at ALL TIMES.
5. Toward the end of 8 hours, the mixture starts to release sweet fragrance. Once it’s done cooking, the mixture should smell sweet. Turn off the rice cooker and transfer the rice cooker bowl into ice water to let cool and stop cooking.

1. hen it’s cooled, transfer the amazake into a large sterilized container. You can keep in the refrigerator up to one week, or freezer for up to a month.

To Serve:

1. Take out the portion you need, dilute the mixture with (hot/iced) water to the consistency you like (I like mine without diluting) and serve hot (reheat) or chilled. You can serve with grated ginger. My kids love smoothies made with amazake, banana, and soymilk. If you heat amazake above 140 ºF (60 ºC), enzyme will die, so if you like to heat up, enjoy lukewarm in order to obtain the enzyme.

https://www.justonecookbook.com/amazake/