Home-brewed sake is delicious and inexpensive to make.
Japanese sake is made of only five ingredients, but the combination yields a smooth and complex flavor. Sake is the perfect accompaniment to sushi and will lend your sushi party note of authenticity that your guests will appreciate. Any type of white rice may be used as well as any type of koji, steamed rice on which a mold spore has been cultivated. Buy the other ingredients needed to brew sake at home through homebrew suppliers or your local supermarket.
Instructions
1. Pour rice into a large mixing bowl.
2. Rinse the rice under running water by stirring and swirling the rice with your hand and then pouring the water from the bowl. Repeat twice.
3. Fill the rice bowl with water until the water covers the rice. Soak the rice for five hours.
4. Place cheesecloth over the top of the mixing bowl and secure it with a rubber band. Drain all water from the bowl through the cheesecloth.
5. Remove the cheesecloth and rubber band while the bowl is still inverted so that the rice rests on the cheesecloth.
6. Gather the ends of the cheesecloth so that it forms a sack. Secure it with thread or twine and hang it to allow excess water to drain for 20 minutes. A good place to hang the sack is a kitchen or bathroom faucet or shower head.
7. Cook the rice according to package directions in a rice cooker or food steamer. A food steamer yields more authentic results. Cool the cooked rice to 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Place 1 tsp. of citric acid and 1/2 gallon of water in the cooking pot and stir over low heat until the citric acid has melted.
9. Add the koji to the citric acid and stir together with the spoon. Cook on low heat for 30 minutes.
10. Add the cooked, cooled rice to the citric acid and koji and stir together.
11. Add 1 tsp. of yeast to the rice mixture and stir.
12. Put the lid on the pot and store it at room temperature. Stir the mixture at least once a day for two weeks.
13. Place cheesecloth over the top of the pot and secure it with a rubber band after two weeks have passed. Pour the finished sake through the cheesecloth into a clean container.
Tags: citric acid, rubber band, cheesecloth over, food steamer, from bowl, mixing bowl