Ihwaju (Spoon-Eaten Rice Wine)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •2-liter glass jar or small onggi crock
• •Steamer basket with cotton cloth
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Clean coarse sieve
• •Clean long spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the vessel

   Wash a 2-liter glass jar, lid, spoon, mixing bowl, and sieve with hot soapy water, rinse well, then pour boiling water over them and let them air-dry. Nuruk carries the good yeasts and molds we want; a dirty jar gives them competition. Clean is not fussiness here. It is the first ingredient.

   Home alcohol laws vary. Check the rules where you live before brewing, and keep this away from children and anyone avoiding alcohol.
2. 2

   Steam rice flour

   Line a steamer with a damp cotton cloth. Break the rice flour up with your fingers until it feels like damp sand, then spread it loosely in the steamer and poke 6 to 8 holes down through the flour with a chopstick so it cooks evenly. Steam over steady boiling water for 25 minutes. The flour must be fully gelatinized so the nuruk enzymes can turn starch into sugar; raw flour ferments badly and leaves a chalky taste.

3. 3

   Cool completely

   Lift the steamed rice cake out onto a clean tray and tear it into small chunks. Cool it until the center is below 30 C, about 35 to 45 minutes. Do not be impatient. Hot rice kills the living starter, and a dead starter gives you paste, not wine.

4. 4

   Wake the nuruk

   Stir the powdered rice nuruk into 500ml cooled boiled water and let it stand 20 minutes. This softens the starter and lets it spread evenly through the rice. If your nuruk is coarse, rub it through a sieve first; large pieces ferment unevenly and make the finished ihwaju gritty.

5. 5

   Mix the mash

   Add the cooled rice cake to the nuruk water. With a clean gloved hand, squeeze and rub until the rice breaks down into a thick, even porridge with no dry centers. It should hold spoon tracks for a few seconds. If it is so stiff you cannot mix it, add cooled boiled water 1 tablespoon at a time, no more than 60ml total. Too much water turns this toward ordinary makgeolli; ihwaju should be thick enough to eat.

6. 6

   Start fermenting

   Scrape the mash into the clean jar, filling it no more than two-thirds full. Cover with a loose lid or clean cloth tied with string. Keep it at 18 to 22 C, away from direct sun. By the second day it should loosen, show small bubbles, and smell of sweet rice, yogurt, and fresh bread.

7. 7

   Stir and watch

   Stir with a clean spoon twice a day for the first 3 days, then once a day after that. Stirring breaks dry pockets, moves the nuruk through the mash, and keeps the ferment even. Taste with a clean spoon from day 5. It is ready when the raw flour taste is gone, the sweetness has softened, and a mild tart rice-wine flavor sits underneath.

   If you see fuzzy green, black, pink, or orange growth, or it smells rotten instead of sweet-sour and alcoholic, discard the batch. Do not try to rescue bad fermentation.
8. 8

   Finish and chill

   When the ihwaju tastes balanced, usually day 6 or 7, stir it smooth and rub it through a clean coarse sieve into a clean container. Do not strain it through cloth like clear wine; the body is the point. Cover and refrigerate at least 12 hours before serving so the flavor settles.

9. 9

   Serve by spoon

   Spoon the chilled ihwaju into small bowls or cups. Serve it thick, or thin each serving with 1 to 2 tablespoons cold water for a lighter summer drink. Add 3 or 4 pine nuts only if you like. The garnish is not the dish; the soft rice body is.

Chef Tips

• •Use rice-flour nuruk if you can find it. Wheat nuruk will ferment, but the flavor turns darker and grainier, and the color will not be the pale white that makes ihwaju itself.
• •Wet-milled rice flour from a Korean market is the easiest path. If you only have dry short-grain rice flour, use 450g dry flour and mist in 150ml water, rubbing until it clumps like damp sand, then rest it 30 minutes before steaming.
• •Temperature matters more than the calendar in a modern apartment. Below 18 C the ferment drags and can taste flat; above 24 C it races, sours quickly, and loses the gentle sweetness this drink needs.
• •Do not bottle this tightly while it is active. Living rice wine gives off gas. Keep it refrigerated after finishing and open the container slowly.

Advance Preparation

• •Ihwaju needs 6 to 7 days of fermentation after the rice flour is steamed, plus at least 12 hours of chilling before serving. Plan it for a special meal, not the afternoon you want to drink it.
• •Once finished, keep it refrigerated and eat or drink it within 10 days. It will continue to sour slowly, even in the cold.
• •For serving a group, portion it into small cups just before the table sits down. Thin only the servings people want thinned; the main batch keeps better thick.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 125g)