Sweet Fermented Rice for Beauty 养颜美容甜酒酿

 

During my confinement days, my mom’s friend brought me a jar of homemade fermented rice. It has a sweet taste with light alcoholic smell. She said it helps to stimulate the production of breastmilk. Can eat by the spoon, or make popular Chinese desserts by adding it to boiled egg soup (酒酿鸡蛋）or rice balls soup (酒酿圆子). There is no added sugar in fermented rice, the sweetness is purely from the glutinous rice itself during fermentation.

I am fascinated by fermented rice not only because of its unique taste, but also its attractive benefits.  Chinese believe fermented rice helps promote blood circulation and is great for prolonging young and smooth skin.

Ever since then, sweet fermented rice soup has become my "secret" beauty dessert.

FERMENTED RICE

INGREDIENTS

- 500g glutinous rice
- Rice yeast (~10-15g), crushed to powder (I get it from YUE HWA)

                                                HOW TO MAKE FERMENTED RICE (2 MINS)

DIRECTIONS

1. Soak the rice for 4-5 hours or overnight. Drain. Add water to just cover the rice. You can steam for about 30-40 mins, or cook in a rice-cooker as usual. 
2. Stir the rice gently to loosen it and let cool. It’s best to use a pair of clean chopsticks as the rice is a bit sticky. Take care not to cool the rice completely.  Let the rice cool to a stage when it is warm but not hot when touched with hands. That’s the temperature yeast works the best.



3. Prepare a clean glass container (strictly no water, no oil). In the process of fermentation, your hand and the container must be very clean . Use disposable cooking glove to do the following steps.
4. Sprinkle one thin layer of rice yeast powder at the bottom of the container. Put one layer of  rice evenly.
5. Sprinkle rice yeast powder on the surface of the rice, add another layer of rice. Repeat this step until all the rice has been transferred to the container. 
6.  Make a hole in the center of the rice. Sprinkle remaining rice yeast powder on top as well as inide the hole.  
7. Cover the container and leave it in a warm place (I put in my microwave oven).
8. Check the rice after 24hrs. Here are some indications of successful fermentation:
• The hole is full of liquid
• The rice does not stick to the container wall when you shake the container gently.
• Press the surface of the rice with a spoon, you can see liquid coming out and fill up the spoon.
• The taste of the rice is sweet with light smell of alcohol.


If fermentation is not complete, cover the container and check again in 36hrs. Usually, under room temperature of 28-33 degC, it should be ready by 2-3 days. If the taste turn sour, it means over-fermented. If found mould on the surface of fermented rice, it means the process is not clean enough.

Once the fermented rice is ready, put the container into the refrigerator to stop fermentation. It can be stored for a month.  

Fancy a bowl of sweet fermented rice soup? Follow my blog, I will tell you how to make these beauty soups !

g+1