Amazake: The fermented superfood perfect for breakfast
Many people lack energy in the morning, especially at this bitterly cold time of year. They don’t have enough appetite to eat a proper breakfast. If that sounds like you, you might want to try eating a breakfast made with the fermented rice beverage amazake. Amazake is produced from nothing but rice, kome koji (rice malt), and salt, yet it’s so nutritious that it’s long been known as the IV drip you drink. Its mildly sweet taste will leave you bright-eyed and bushy tailed.
“I make a point of eating fermented foods starting at breakfast. Amazake is generally thought of as a beverage, but in fact it’s easy to use as an ingredient in your cooking as well.” So says culinary expert Kondo Sachiko, a working mom with two small daughters. She sets time aside to make breakfast twice every morning: once for her older daughter in elementary school, then for her younger daughter in day care.
“I spend ten to fifteen minutes preparing breakfast. I’m caereful to put together a nutritionally balanced meal, but without too many items so it’s easy for my kids to eat. Amazake comes in very handy for making breakfast. It has a natural sweetness, umami, and flavor quite unlike sugar or mirin (sweet cooking sake), so it makes foods taste great, even without extra seasonings. You can mix it into a pancake or omelet or use it as one of your seasonings. It’s a lifesaver on busy mornings.”
Here Sachiko shares ideas for incorporating amazake into your morning meal, along with several amazake recipes suitable for breakfast. These recipes are easy on the body and perfect for the morning. Why not give them a try?
Three ideas for incorporating amazake into breakfast
(1) Add it to regular breakfast foods.
Simply add amazake to whatever you regularly have in the morning. Because it has its own sweetness and umami, it can easily be incorporated into other foods. Use it in place of milk in pancakes or hotcakes. Or use it as you would dashi (stock) in a thick Japanese-style omelet or ohitashi salad.
(2) Use it as a seasoning.
The hallmark of amazake is its natural sweetness. Try using it as a seasoning in place of mirin. It’s invaluable for sweetening teriyaki chicken, simmered dishes like nikujaga stew and Chikuzen-ni, as well as kimpira and other fare. It gives the flavor depth by imparting its own distinctive character.
(3) Turn it into a soup.
Another idea is to enjoy the great taste of amazake in a soup. It can be savored in many different forms. Combine it with Chinese soup stock to make a Chinese-style soup, with dried skipjack tuna stock to make a Japanese-style soup, or with bouillon to make a Western-style soup. Amazake goes particularly well with root vegetables: Chinese yams, daikon, carrots, lotus root. Prepare the soup the evening before, and all you have to do is warm it in the morning. What could be easier?
Kondo Sachiko’s breakfast recipes made with amazake
＜Amazake pancakes＞
Straightforward pancakes, only made with amazake instead of milk. Here’s the trick to getting them a delicious-looking golden brown: Pour the batter into the frying pan while it’s still only warm, then cook over low to medium heat. The pancakes themselves are semisweet, so garnish with kinako butter. Serve with ham or sausages and salad.
［Ingredients for 4 pancakes］
120 g cake flour
1 tsp. backing powder
1 egg
1 carton amazake
Pinch of salt
＜Kinako butter＞
10 g ea. butter and kinako (soybean flour)
2 tsp. condensed milk
［Instructions］
【1】Make the kinako butter. Let the butter warm to room temperature, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
【2】Make the batter. Break up the egg with a whisk. Add the amazake and salt and mix in.
【3】Combine the cake flour and baking powder and sift into the bowl from Step 2. Stir with a whisk until no longer floury.
【4】Heat a Teflon-coated pan until moderately warm. Pour in a quarter of the batter from Step 3, cover with a lid, and cook until fine bubbles form on the surface. Now flip over and do the other side until golden-brown. Cook the remaining three pancakes likewise.*
【5】Plate and garnish with the kinako butter.
*Before cooking the second and subsequent pancakes, place the pan on a wet cloth to cool, then add the batter. That will ensure they turn out a beautiful golden brown.
＜Amazake teriyaki chicken＞
An exquisite teriyaki dish that goes superbly with rice. It’s seasoned with just amazake and soy sauce and served with a rich sauce. The fragrant chicken is crispy on the outside and plump and juicy on the inside. And it remains tender even after it cools, making it a great main for a bento.
［Ingredients for 2 servings］
1 chicken thigh
(Sauce ingredients)
½ carton amazake
1 tbsp. soy sauce
½ tsp. grated ginger
＜Garnish＞
1 carton eringi (king oyster) mushrooms
6 snap peas
A little vegetable oil and a pinch of salt
［Instructions］
【1】Score the thicker parts of the chicken with a knife. Marinate in the combined sauce ingredients for 10 minutes.
【2】Prepare the garnish. Tear the eringi mushrooms into bite-size pieces. Remove the strings from the snap peas and split lengthwise. Quickly stir-fry in a heated frying pan greased with vegetable oil. Salt, then remove.
【3】Remove the excess sauce from the chicken and place in the pan skin side down. Cook until fragrant while pressing down with a spatula, then flip over. Remove and cut into bite-size pieces. Suggested cooking times are 4 minutes on the skin side and 4 minutes on the other side.
【4】Remove any excess fat from the pan and add the remaining sauce from Step 3. Simmer until the sauce thickens. Dish up the chicken and the garnish and pour the sauce over the chicken.
＜Chinese medicinal soup with amazake＞
A chunky, hearty soup containing chicken, Chinese yam, and kikurage fungus. The natural sweetness and umami of amazake spread across your palate with every mouthful, leaving you full and contented. All the ingredients used are classified as warming foods in Chinese medicinal cuisine, making this soup perfect for breakfast on a cold winter’s morning!
［Ingredients for 2 servings］
2 chicken drumettes
¼ tsp. salt
10 cm (100 g) Chinese yam
3 g kikurage (wood ear mushroom)
200 cc water
1 carton amazake
2 tsp. Chinese bouillon powder
1 tsp. soy sauce
½ tsp. grated ginger
Goji berries (if available), as needed
［Instructions］
【1】Pre-season the chicken drumettes with salt and let sit for 10 minutes. Peel the Chinese yam and cut into bite-size pieces.
【2】Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and cover with a lid. Simmer for 15 minutes, skimming off the scum occasionally.
●The featured amazake
<Plus Koji Koji Amazake>
Undiluted amazake that tastes delicious even drunk on its own. The enzymes in the rice and rice koji give it a natural sweetness by breaking down starch. Containing 0% alcohol, it’s safe even for small children to drink and bursting with nutrients. Packed in cartocans made of paperboard, it can be enjoyed hot by heating it in the microwave after opening and removing the seal.
Plus Koji Koji Amazake
