Foochew Red Glutinous Rice Wine 红糟酒

When I'm young every birthday, my family will have a simple homecook dinner Red Wine Chicken Soup with Mee Sua and an egg. That's my family tradition but it kind of discountinued...

I am missing a good bowl of Red Wine Chicken Soup with Mee Sua! The another dish that this can be made with this is Dry Red Wine Chicken that goes with rice. Since it is hard to find, time for me to brew some at home.


Yields:
1L of Foochew Red Glutinous Rice Wine
960g Foochew Red Glutinous Rice Wine Residue

Ingredients
1kg Glutinous Rice
2 pieces Wine Biscuits
1 cup Water (Distilled or Cooled-Boiled)
200g Red Rice Bran

1. Wash and soak glutinous rice preferably overnight or at least 3 hours, completely submerged in water.
2. Drain the water and cook the glutinous rice in a rice cooker.
3. When the rice is cooked, loosen and spread the rice out to cool completely.

4. Dry-blend the wine cakes and the red yeast rice and pour the powder into a big bowl.

5. Take handful of the cooled glutinous rice and coat it with the powder. Put the powder-coated glutinous rice into a big glass container.Repeat until all the glutinous rice are used up

6. Use water to rinse any remaining glutinous rice or powder from working bowls and pour into the glass container

7. Place a clean thin cloth in between the cover and cap. Always keep the cap loose.
   During the fermentation process, the red rice mixture will start to float upwards causing 'boiling' bubbles and these form the essential Ang Chew. This stage will happen between 24 to 48 hours and will last for another few days. At this stage, it is important to stir the mixture at least twice a day to avoid overflowing or use only half a jar/container. During this process, the red rice mixture will separate from the liquid and stay afloat. The mixture will then stabilise and red rice will slowly sink back towards the bottom of jar.
8. Set aside glass container in a cool dark place for 7 days for the fermentation to continue.
9. On the 7th day, stir mixture in container then replace the cover, again loosely
10. Set aside for another 23 days (30th day) and it is time to harvest the wine and the residue.
11. The whole content will then be filtered with a piece of clean cloth hanged and allowing it to drip or place a piece of cloth on a strainer. Pour the whole jar content onto the cloth and strain it overnight. Or you can assist to squeeze out to speed up the process and avoid leaving it out to strain overnight.
12. Store in fridge.

Enjoy brewing yours~!

Recipe coming up soon: Red Wine Chicken Soup with Mee Sua
Recipe coming up soon: Dry Red Wine Chicken


Notes:
- Best using aluminium bowl to cool the glutinous rice as they do not retain heat.
- If any globs of rice fall on the floor or table, leave it and throw away when done. Do not pick it up and rinse and put it in the container. Bacteria picked up can ruin the wine.
- It is imperative not to screw on the container's cap tight, as the fermenting process produces a lot of gas.
- The wine cakes affect the taste of the wine significantly. Experiment with vendors until you get a taste you like, then stick to them like white on rice (or in this case red on rice). The Honey Wine Cake that we've use in this trial was told it will make the wine sweeter.
- It is normal to see mouldy substance on top of the red rice mixture at the early stages especially during the 24 -48 hours as fermentation is only beginning. Stir the mixture if you see this as alcohol will kill the mouldy substance off and hence making it negligible. But if mouldy substance is seen floating on the Ang Chew, it is a goner.Water vapour is also normal at the early stages.
- All utensils must be clean and dry.
- Beer bottles should be washed and dried. Then a little Ang Chew was poured into each bottle and thrown away. Then filled each bottle. This way the Ang Chew will last longer.
- The lees or the residues is the Ang Chow, which can be kept for various cooking purposes and of course to make the famous Foochow preserved vegetable Chow Chai.


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