Two Amasake Recipes

Amasake is made by fermenting rice with a starter called koji. Since rice is sweet, it ferments easily. After fermentation the rice becomes even sweeter but now the grain has been broken down and is very easy to digest. I would never recommend drinking amasake to anyone who does not already have a healthy inner ecosystem, but when one is well established in the intestinal tract and you do occasionally want a special treat, I do find Amasake to be an excellent sweetener to use in a baked product where rice or rice flour is the key ingredient. Basically, you’re using rice with a fermented rice sweetener and they are very compatible together. When mixed into other ingredients, the amasake is not very sweet, but it does make foods have a nice texture and even makes muffins and cakes rise higher. I recommend using some amasake and then sweetening the recipe further by adding stevia.

The following two recipes are for those who feel they need an occasional sweet treat and since they have been eating cultured foods, have moved into stage 2 of the BED. In stage 2, the yeast and viral infections are under control and a few months has passed where one has consistently been drinking young coconut kefir and eating cultured veggies to establish a healthier inner ecosystem.

Corn Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups Fern Brown Rice Baking Mix or similar
• ½ tsp. celtic sea salt, fine grind
• 2 large eggs, from free range or DHA-fed chickens
• 1 1/3 cup plain-flavored amasake*
• Half of a ten ounce package organic frozen corn (defrosted some)
• 1 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted)
• Approx. ten drops stevia liquid concentrate (optional)**
• ½ small zucchini, grated or finely chopped
• ½ small onion, finely chopped

1. Blend first 8 ingredients, then slowly add xanthan gum if using.
2. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Rub mini-muffin tins with coconut oil to keep muffins from sticking.
4. Whisk dry ingredients together in one large mixing bowl to combine.
5. Place eggs into a blender, and puree. Then add amasake and puree again about 30 seconds.
6. Add melted coconut oil in three additions, whipping for 30 seconds after each addition.
7. Add frozen corn and continue to whip until corn is fairly well broken up into small pieces. If a sweet-tasting muffin is desired, add stevia liquid concentrate to taste. (Taste batter to determine level of sweetness. The Amasake is slightly sweet already depending on which brand you buy).
8. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients; mix gently with rubber spatula until batter is just combined and evenly moistened. Take care not to over mix.
9. Fold in zucchini and onion
10. Using a spoon, divide batter evenly among muffins cups dropping it to form mounds. Do not level or flatten surface of mounds.
11. Bake until muffins are a light golden brown and skewer inserted into center of muffins comes out clean.
12. Cool muffins 5 minutes then invert into basket.
13. Serve piping hot with lots of raw butter. Raw butter is best.

Rice Pudding

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

• 1 Ginger lemon Tea bag (Yogi Tea Company)
• ¼ teaspoon fine grind celtic sea salt
• ¼ tsp. white stevia (or to taste)
• 1 cup white basmati rice
• 2 cups Amasake (plain flavor is our favorite)
• 1½ cups pure organic cream
• 2 – 3 tsp alcohol-free vanilla flavoring
• dash of cinnamon or nutmeg (optional but very good)

1. Bring 3 cups water to a boil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan (at least 3-quart capacity).
2. Drop in tea bag and let steep for 15 – 20 minutes.
3. Remove tea bag and bring water to boil again.
4. Stir in the salt, stevia and rice.
5. Reduce heat and simmer over low heat, stirring once or twice, about 20 minutes.
6. Add the amasake and continue to simmer uncovered, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes more.
7. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the cream, cinnamon or nutmeg and the vanilla.
8. Pour into a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until brown on top and firm. Serve warm, room temperature or chilled.

Note: Soak rice 8 – 12 hours to remove the enzyme inhibitors. Adding a spoonful of young coconut kefir or milk kefir to the soaking water helps “pre-digest” the grain/rice making it even more digestible.