Amazake (甘酒) is a sweet non-alcohol Japanese drink made from fermented rice. It is like thick milky syrup and is usually mixed with hot water or water to drink. It can also be used as sweeter in cooking. I like both drinking it and using it in cooking. You can find this drink at some Japanese supermarkets depending on the time of the year. It is traditionally consumed on March 3 when we celebrate Girls’ Day in Japan. Now I see some American health-conscience grocery stores carry this.
I’ve never made amazake when I lived in Japan and didn’t even think this is something you can make at home. I started making this a few years ago when I came across with a recipe one day. It’s actually easy to make, and homemade amazake tastes so much better than a store-bought one. The most difficult part of making amazake is getting one of the ingredients rice koji. Koji is culture to start fermentation. It’s kind of like yeast. There are fresh koji and dried koji. Some Japanese supermarkets carry fresh and/or dried rice koji. I also found it at a local co-op grocery store. You can get dry one online. I used fresh koji this time. Both fresh and dried ones work fine. This is what fresh rice koji looks like.
I’ll share the step-by-step instructions. The shorter version of the recipe and the listing of the ingredients are at the bottom of this blog post.
1. Cook short grain sushi rice normally and let it cool. I used 50% polished brown rice this time but both brown and white rice work. Since I used a rice cooker to keep the amazake mixture warm, I left the cooked rice in the rich cooker pot.
2. When rice is cool down a bit (slightly warm to the touch), stir in koji into rice and mix well with a rick scooper or a large spoon.
3. Pour warm water (not hotter than 149 degrees F or 65 degrees C) into the rice mixture until the mixture is well coated with water and almost water covers the mixture. If too much water is added, amazake gets watery. It’s still fine to make a drink but it may not work well to be used as a sweeter in cooking if it’s too watery.
4. Place the cooking pot in the rice cooker and set the rice cooker to “Keep Warm” mode. Leave the lid slightly open so it doesn’t get too warm. I use a kitchen towel to keep the lid open. Check the temperature of the mixture with a thermometer and keep it between 135 to 145 degrees F (57 to 63 degrees C). Do not go beyond 149 degrees F (65 degrees C) or koji will die.
5. Keep the mixture warm for 5 to 6 hours.
This is after one and a half hour. The rice stared to melt. It looks like porridge. The mixture has a slight sweet smell.
This is after four hours. The rice continued melting. The mixture has a very sweet smell.
This is after six hours. You want to wait until the rice is almost gone.
6. While it’s warm, blend it in a blender until it gets smooth. This is optional but I like smooth amazake over chunky one. Now it’s ready to drink! Mix equal part or two parts of water to amazake when you drink. Amazake is so sweet and creamy, and it’s hard to believe it is unsweetened. It’s good to drink both cold and warm. I’ll post a recipe using Amazake in the next post. Stay tuned!
- Cooked short grain sushi rice (1 cup of rice before cooking)
- 7 oz. (200 g) rice koji
- Some water
- Cook short grain sushi rice normally and let it cool.
- When rice is cool down a bit (slightly warm to the touch), stir in koji into rice and mix well with a rick scooper or a large spoon.
- Pour warm water (not hotter than 149 degrees F or 65 degrees C) into the rice mixture until the mixture is well coated with water and almost water covers the mixture.
- Place the cooking pot in the rice cooker and set the rice cooker to "Keep Warm" mode. Leave the lid slightly open so it doesn't get too warm. Check the temperature of the mixture with a thermometer and keep it between 135 to 145 degrees F (57 to 63 degrees C). Do not go beyond 149 degrees F (65 degrees C) or koji will die.
- Keep the mixture warm for 5 to 6 hours.
- While it's warm, blend it in a blender until it gets smooth. This is optional.
Hiroshi says
Are you talking about sticky/glutinous/sweet short grain brown rice? Can regular short grain brown rice be used? Thanks.
admin says
Thank you for your comment! Sorry for my late response. I used regular short grain brown rice (not sticky one called mocha-gome in Japanese).
Hiroshi says
Thanks so much for your reply. It came out really well. I’m glad to have success with short grain brown rice in addition to sweet brown rice.
admin says
🙂
Ellen Maisen says
Thank you for the pictures and directions, I can’t wait to make this!
admin says
🙂
Taylor says
I fell in love with amazake when I lived in Japan! I’m making this recipe right now and I was wondering how you rewarm this to drink the leftovers? On the stove?
(Also for some reason if wont let me rate this 5 stars, but this is definitely a great easy to follow recipe!)
admin says
I usually use the stove to rewarm it. 🙂
Rita C. Donnell says
OMG!! Really excellent presentation. No vague in our presentation. The today I’ll try it. Thanks for value return sharing.
admin says
🙂