On the subject of cooking, I think I am a good cook, since all you really need to do to become one is the ability to read and follow directions. However, I am not particularly imaginative when it comes to putting novel flavors together. Thus I want to learn about "basic" (only in the sense that it is common) dishes so I can more accurately learn and judge the different flavors.
Along similar lines, I also want to learn basic skills that I am afraid might not last past my generation, making things such as 酒酿 (sweet rice wine), 汤圆 (ball made from glutinous rice flour, can be sweet or savory), 粽子 (stuffed, or not, sweet rice wrapped in lotus leaf), and 红烧肉 (beef or pork cooked in some type of soy sauce base). (Please excuse my complete lack of translating abilities.) For most of those, one can purchase them at the supermarket. For some, I am not even really fond of it. However, just because I don't like them does not mean others do not. One of my philosophies in life: it's always better to know how to do something and choose not to do it than to not know something and have that prevent you from doing what you want. Not very pithy. I'm working on it.
Based on the temperatures we've had the past few days, I decided it's the perfect weather to ferment some 酒酿. I obtained the recipe from internet considering my usual go to, mom, has about a 30% success rate with this. So here goes. Today is my very first day, ever, making sweet rice wine, a childhood treat that can only be had once to trice a year.
Because the first time is an experiment, I cut the recipe in half so as to not waste the sweet rice just in case it failed. I soaked the rice for around 16 hours because I felt too lazy to cook it in the morning. It smelled the teensiest strange and had some tiny bubbles floating on top when I rinsed it, but I think it's ok. Then I steamed it in the little pot lined with cheesecloth that I borrowed from Kat for about 25 min. At first not much steam was rising to the top. So I had to move the cheesecloth a little to uncover a small hole to let the steam up. When it was done, it looked translucent and is not mushy at all. Whew, first stage complete.
I let it cool completely wrapped in cheesecloth so as to not let it dry out. Then rinsed it and set it in the strainer to drain.
Crush the yeast ball to as fine of a powder as possible. I added some flour to kickstart the yeast and because I like the rice wine to be on the sweeter side.
Put the rice in a mixing bowl and pour in yeast and flour, mix. Hands will be extremely sticky. Have the bowl that will hold the rice for the next week or so as well as the rinsing water next to me before starting. When well mixed, put the rice in the container and pat down. Make a well, or in my case, I made a cone. Rinse hand and pour liquid in well/cone.
Now the bowl is in a plastic bag wrapped comfortably in my big comforter on the couch in the living room. The recipe calls for me to keep the rice on top moist by opening the container and spooning liquid on top of it. However, I remember someone's advice to absolutely not open it for the next 72 hours. For the sake of ease, I am going to follow the latter advice and not touch it.
Fingers crossed! We'll see how it goes.
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