Recipe: Perfect The Easiest Way To Make Ama-koji (Sweet Rice Malt) and Amazake

Harvey Fleming

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Recipe: Perfect The Easiest Way To Make Ama-koji (Sweet Rice Malt) and Amazake Delicious, fresh and tasty.

The Easiest Way To Make Ama-koji (Sweet Rice Malt) and Amazake. The Easiest Way To Make Ama-koji (Sweet Rice Malt) and Amazake Keeping the temperature constant is a pain. The temperature setting of the warming function is high, and I get the feeling that it is not so economical to leave the lid of the rice cooker open. Creamy with a natural mild sweetness, Amazake or sweet sake is a popular Japanese hot drink during the New Year's and Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival).

Koji is a mold that is at the heart of many different Japanese ferments.

It is used to make miso, sake, amazake, rice vinegar, soy sauce and mirin.

Koji is grown on rice or barley, which are then used as the starter culture for further fermentation.

You can have The Easiest Way To Make Ama-koji (Sweet Rice Malt) and Amazake using 2 ingredients and 14 steps. Here is how you cook that.

Ingredients of The Easiest Way To Make Ama-koji (Sweet Rice Malt) and Amazake

You need 200 grams of Rice malt.
It’s 300 ml of Hot water (140F/70C).

It all starts off with acquiring rice malt (koji) from your local supermarket.

This ingredient is made from rice that's been cultured with the use of Aspergillus oryzae, a fungus often used in East Asian cuisine.

This transforms the rice from solid to a liquid form, making it easier to mix in with other ingredients.

An easy way to make koji rice step by step.

The Easiest Way To Make Ama-koji (Sweet Rice Malt) and Amazake instructions

Make sure to break up the rice malt if its a solid. I usually break it up with my hands as-is without opening the package..
Turn the rice cooker onto the warming setting, and add in the rice malt. If you use refrigerated rice malt or if the pot is cold, the temperature will drop immediately, so warm it up first..
Add 150F/70C water, and mix well. It will immediately drop to 120F/50C, so close the lid and let it warm up for a bit, until it reaches above 60c..
Making sure the temperature doesnt drop too much, stir it little by little while checking the temperature. It will take about 3-4 hours for the rice malt to sweeten..
It depends on the rice cooker, but all I do is turn on the warm switch twice. Once it drops below 120F/50C, I heat it up for another 20-30 minutes and then turn it off again..
Rice malt ferments at about 130°F (110-140°F) / 55°C(45-60°C). Keep turning the warming switch on and off to prevent cooling down..
It will stop fermenting once it reaches above 160F/70C. It gets pretty hot even with the warm function, so dont cover it with a lid for too long..
If its a rice cooker where you can set the temperature, it might be suitable to choose the lowest heat setting. Or use a yogurt maker, which sets at 130F/55C..
If you are making it in a thermos, use a 500 ml bottle. Pour hot water to warm it up before pouring the mixture in and make sure the heat doesnt drop when you change the water..
Just like in Step 3, heat to 140F/60C, and mix well. Transfer to a bottle, let sit for about 8-12 hours, and you are done!.
If the temperature drops too far, then it wont be very sweet. But don't give up! If you transfer it to a pot and warm it over low heat, it'll become sweet again in a blink of an eye ..
Once its done, dilute with water to make amazake (sweet sake). You can use it just like jam or yogurt, or use it to make healthy sweets ..
Freeze it in silicone cups or in ziplock bags, and make frozen treats . The dense rice malt will not freeze solid, so its convenient!.
Mix with fruit, yogurt, or tofu, or make sherbet or ice cream. Add soy milk or regular milk and make a shake. Its delicious enough without adding any sugar..

Koji rice is fermentation starter (in this case Aspergillus oryzae) breeded on rice).

You can use this recipe as a refence to make delicious koji.

With this koji, you can make various foods, such as miso.

Hope you can enjoy making it!

Starter culture to make miso, amazake, shio koji, rice milk, pickles.