[Sca-cooks] RE: Chinese Redactions as promised :)

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Also sprach Craig Jones.:
>While picking up foxnuts and wolfthorn berries last weekend, I found
>some white balls labelled Wine East.  I'm betting that this is Koji,
>aspergillius oryzae infected rice balls.  You add them to cooked sake
>rice and they convert the starch in the rice to sugars.  You then
>ferment the resulting sweet, ricey goo to make rice wine.  I do have
>to do a little more research before actually doing it though...

Courtesy of Florence Lin's Complete Book of Chinese Noodles,
Dumplings, and Breads:

"WINE RICE - Jiu Niang

This wine rice can be easily made at home and stored in your
refrigerator indefinitely. As with some wine, age will improve its
mellowness. It makes fragrant sweet soup or sauce for seafoods.
Extract the residual and use the liquid as rice wine for drinking and
cooking.

The cold wine rice can be served as is, or combined with dried fruit.
For example, soak and submerge 1/2 jar of dried prune in 1/2 jar of
cold wine rice including the juice for one to two weeks. Keep jar in
the refrigerator. This can be used as dessert including the wine rice
and the juice.

YIELD: 5 to 6 cups

3 cups glutinous rice (sweet rice)
2 teaspoons wine yeast (Jiu-yao)
2 teaspoons flour

Wash the rice in cold water several times; drain. Put the rice in a
2-quart heatproof bowl. Add 3 cups of cold water and let soak for 30
minutes. Wine yeast is sold in solid form, so you must mash it before
using. Measure out 2 teaspoons and mix with flour. Set aside.

Place the bowl containing the soaking rice in a large pot filled with
cold water. The cold water should be 1 1/2 inches below the bowl's
rim. Cover and bring to a boil. Steam over medium-high heat for 45
minutes. You may have to add more boiling water during this time, so
have boiling water ready on another burner. After cooking, the rice
looks shiny with grains separated, soft but slightly chewy.

Transfer the steamed rice to a large colander and rinse thoroughly,
first with cold water, then with warm water, and let drain for five
minutes. Rinse a 2-quart earthenware casserole with warm water and
dry well. Sprinkle the yeast and flour on the rice and mix
thoroughly. Put the rice in the prepared casserole, gently patting
the rice down to make a 1-inch well in the center down to the bottom
of the casserole. Cover, place the slightly warm casserole in an
insulated bag or wrap it in a heavy blanket, and leave it in a dark
place for one and a half to two days. By this time a sweet liquid
will have accumulated in the well and at the sides.

Transfer the wine rice to a glass container. Cover tightly and keep
in the refrigerator, where it may be stored indefinitely. Be sure the
juice covers the rice. Serve cold or hot."

OK, so this should give you an idea of the process, if somewhat backhanded.

Adamantius, back to reading 150 day-old e-mails