Homemade amazake is sweet fermented rice that is typically turned into a warm drink flavoured with fresh ginger. It can also be eaten as a dessert, or used as a natural sweetener for cereals and smoothies. Unlike sake, it is not alcoholic.
The sweetness naturally arises from the breakdown of the complex carbohydrates in rice to simple sugars through koji fermentation. Like all fermented foods, amazake is considered to be very nutritious. It also delicious! On its own homemade amazake has a sweet and toasty flavour. However, I love it even more when it’s spiced with ginger or cinnamon.
Best of all, amazake is really easy to make at home! The only trick is finding a source of koji rice
(affiliate link.) Alternatively, you could always make your own by following my recipe.
Vegan Milk Substitute
Homemade amazake is a great substitute for milk in both hot and cold drinks, and it’s delicious poured over a bowl of cereal for breakfast.
Amazake is also excellent as a milk substitute for baking. The sweetness means that you can reduce the amount of sugar used in the recipe. Due to the fact that it is fermented, amazake has a much richer flavour then typical dairy substitutes and will add depth to vegan baked goods.
Homemade Amazake
Amazake is sweet fermented rice that has been cultured with koji. It is typically turned into a delicious and warming drink flavoured with fresh ginger. It is also a great vegan milk substitute for drinks and baking.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 cups 1x
- Category: Beverages
- Method: Fermented
- Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup dried rice (white or brown)
- 1/2 cup koji rice
- 1/2 cup water (chlorine free, enough to cover)
Instructions
- Rinse the dried rice thoroughly before cooking to wash away the starch.
- Bring the dried rice to a boil in a large pot of water.
- Cook until soft, then drain off the excess water.
- Cool rice to around 130 F (60 C).
- Mix in koji rice.
- Pack the rice into a glass jar for fermentation.
- Cover with water (about 1/2 cup, as needed), then secure the lid to keep the moisture in while fermenting. It doesn’t release CO2 like other ferments so you don’t need to worry about building up pressure.
- Incubate at 130 F (60 C) for up to 16 hours. See notes for advice.
- Puree into a smooth paste and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Notes
- An easy way to maintain the right temperature is to use a rice cooker
or a slow cooker
set on warm. I have a Brød & Taylor Bread Proofer & Yogurt Maker (affiliate link,) which I use for most of my ferments.
- To turn the amazake paste into a drink, mix 1 part amazake with 1 part water. Then you can serve it hot or cold. Just adjust the amount of water according to your own taste. Warm amazake is traditionally served with a pinch of fresh grated ginger.
or a slow cooker
set on warm. I have a Keywords: vegan, gluten free, dairy free, egg free, milk, probiotic, breakfast, baking, fall, winter
Both types of rices are cooked correct?
No, the koji rice will already have been cooked before culturing with the koji kin. It might be somewhat dry, but still cooked. So only the white rice needs to be cooked.
Do you set the Brod & Taylor to slow cook mode and set temperature to 60 degress celcius? I have had two unsuccessful attempts at making amazake so far – ends of tasting sweet but somehow unpleasant. Quite different to the store bought amazeke we have tried.
Sorry to hear that it didn’t work out for you. I can set my Brod & Taylor to exactly 60C, so that’s what I use.
I’ve actually never tried store-bought amazake. I wonder if they sweeten it? I like it with ginger or cinnamon. Otherwise it just has a rice-like flavour. My other suggestion is to shorten the ferment to perhaps 8-12 hours? Hope that works!
your blog is quite appealing to me. Easy and straight forward explained.
Looking forward to try some of your Japanese fermentation recipes.
Many thanks
Sylvia
Thanks!
Hi, does it ferment naturally or do you need to add a microbial strain?
The culture comes from the koji rice, which has been inoculated with koji kin (a mold culture.)
Simple to prepare plus healthy…
Can an instant pot be used? Yogurt setting is probably only 90 F. Anyone used an instant pot to make the recipe!?
Sorry, I don’t have an instapot. However, it probably will work. Koji ferments tend to heat up as they ferment. If you try it let me know how it goes so I can share. Thanks!
Is the fermented rice counted as the same amount of carbs or does it not count as the fermented is assimilated differently in your body like fermented vegetables? I am new to this ferment thing, leaky gut pushing me into it and I’m actually kinda excited. But still working on understanding how it performs differently than regular carbs.
Welcome to fermenting! Fermenting grains (like rice) does breakdown the carbs. So they will be lower in carbs than regular grains… however, not sufficiently low in carbs to be considered “low carb”. And the amount of carbs depends on the type of ferment and how long it is fermented.
I pretty much always ferment grains. I’m GF and it improves the flavour, texture and digestibility. Amazake is quite sweet. The mold breaks down the complex carbs, giving it a sweet flavour. Be well, Emillie
I tried this with the bread proofer yesterday and woke up to two quarts of fresh amazake. Had it with turmeric, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and it was so good I drank a whole quart. 🙂 It also paired really well with French Roast coffee. Just for the hell of it, I used your recipe to ferment a super-grain porridge I made with amaranth, barley, oats, millet, and bulgar, which also turned out great. I imagine just oats would be great, as well–a new take on oatmeal. Thanks for your blog–it’s fantastic.
★★★★★
Wow, that sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing.
I hadn’t thought about it before, but using homemade amazake as a dairy substitute in baked goods is a great idea! One thing though: the temperatures used to bake would probably kill bacteria in the ferment, so any probiotic benefit would be lost.
You are right, like sourdough bread, using amazake for baking means that it will no longer be probiotic. However, it is delicious!