Mama's Fermented Sweet Rice Wine ｜ 媽媽自家甜酒釀做法

This summer when my parents came to visit, I asked my mom to teach me how to make sweet rice wine.  The fermented sweet rice wine sold in stores can never be as good as the one mom makes at home.

There are so many different ways to make fermented sweet rice wine out there, but they all sounded so complicated or vague.  This time, when my mom came and we did two batches from start to finish.  Both batches were a success.  I saved one batch for drinking as it is and saved the other one to make tang yuan.

All the ingredients listed should be possible to find in old style Asian stores.

Mama's Fermented Sweet Rice Wine

媽媽自家甜酒釀做法

My mom was showing the first batch of our successful  rice wine.

Ingredients:

2 cups White Glutinous Rice

4 Wine Yeast Balls

How to make it:

1. Blend the yeast into powder; set it aside.

If you don't have a processor, using the back of the knife to smack the yeast balls until they become granulate.

2. Rinse the glutinous rice in two changes of water; drain well.  Pour the rice in a dish evenly and then sprinkle about 4 tablespoons of water over it.

3. Cook the rice in a pre-heated steamer over high heat for 30 minutes, or until the rice is totally soften and cooked.

4. Remove the rice from the steamer; allow it to cool until luke warm.  (yeast needs the warmness to ferment, but hot rice can kill the yeast).

5. Sprinkle the yeast over the rice a few times while stirring the rice.  Make sure they incorporate very well.

6. In a sterilized jar, add the rice to fill half of the container.  Cover the bottle with a kitchen paper towel and close the lid. 

(I used spaghetti container to ferment my wine and they came out just fine)

7. Leave the bottles in a dark place.

8. After about three days, you will see some wine starting to form on the bottom.

9. Stir the rice once, and continue to allow it ferment for at least three weeks before drinking it. 

Both the wine and rice residue are edible.  You can use the rice to make sweet soup or steamed chicken.

The wine after three weeks.

10. To store the wine, remove the paper towel and close the lid tight. Store it at room temperature for up to a year.