Built structures · All-in-one appliances

Rice cooker used in stages

rice cooker enzyme hold

Loading ratings…

One rice cooker run as two stages: cook the rice, then add koji or malt water and hold it warm with the lid managed, before boiling, straining or chilling elsewhere.

Suggest a correction

Illustration of Rice cooker used in stages.

Overview

One rice cooker runs as two stages. The first cooks the rice, which gelatinises the starch so the enzymes can reach it. The second holds the mixture warm, with koji or malt amylases converting the starch to sugar. A third stage boils, strains or chills the result elsewhere.

The cooker does what it does well, cooking starch and holding warmth. The enzyme hold is a separate stage with its own temperature check.

Sources for this section

How it works

The warm hold lets the enzymes work. Boiling ends the enzyme work. The hold temperature depends on how the cook handles the lid and switch, not on a programmed setpoint.

Sources for this section

糀甘酒の作り方｜マルコメの糀甘酒｜マルコメ →

Documented uses

Amazake: cook the rice, cool it to about 60 °C, add koji, and hold at 50 to 60 °C for 5 to 10 hours.

Sikhye: cook the rice, add clear malt water, and warm for about 4 hours before boiling it in a pot.

Ssal-jocheong (rice syrup): warm for 6 hours, strain, then reduce the strained liquid in the cooker with the lid open.

Sources for this section

Measuring

Measure the mixture's temperature at each stage change and through the hold.

Sources for this section

糀甘酒の作り方｜マルコメの糀甘酒｜マルコメ →

Limits

Do not add koji to porridge hotter than 70 °C: the enzymes are destroyed.

Some cookers switch to a hot keep-warm automatically after cooking. The Instant Pot Duo, for example, starts keep-warm for 10 hours at 63 to 78 °C unless it is turned off.

Cooking, saccharifying and microbial fermenting are different stages. This build covers only the first two.

Sources for this section

History

The amazake, sikhye and ssal-jocheong methods are current home recipes from a Japanese manufacturer and a Korean cookery site. The rice-cooker versions are adaptations of those methods. The sources do not date the staged use.

Site

SettingA kitchen counter: a rice cooker run in stages, with a thermometer in the mixture and a cloth over the open inner pot.

ClimateCooking heat for stage 1, then a warm hold for the enzyme stage, with the lid managed by hand.

NotesThe sources do not name a cooker model, and the hold temperature depends on how the cook handles the lid and switch, not on a programmed setpoint.

A build is made where it stands: moving it means building it again.

How it is built

Risks and precautions · Standard risk

Hold temperature too low for safe handling

Below 50 °C bacteria may increase, according to the amazake source.

Hazard source

Hold the koji amazake at 50 to 60 °C for saccharification, then store it cold.

Control source

If concerned about bacteria, bring the finished amazake to a boil.

Control source

Do not add koji to porridge hotter than 70 °C: the enzymes are destroyed.

Check whether the cooker's keep-warm starts automatically after cooking, and turn it off if the stage needs a set temperature.

Materials

1 Rice cooker inner pot — Cooks the rice or porridge, then holds the mixture warm.
1 Thermometer — In the mixture, to read it at each stage change and through the hold.
1 Cloth — Covers the open pot during the hold.
Koji or malt — Added at stage 2, after the water has settled to the stated temperature.
Pot and cloth for stage 3 — A pot for boiling the sikhye; cloth for straining the ssal-jocheong.

Stage 1: cook the rice or porridge in the cooker.
Stage 2, amazake: add water at about 70 °C, let it settle to about 60 °C, add the koji, and hold at 50 to 60 °C with the lid open.
Stage 2, sikhye: pour the settled clear malt water over the cooked rice, and set the cooker to warm for about 4 hours.
Stage 2, ssal-jocheong: add cold water and malt, and hold on warm for 6 hours.
Stage 3: boil the sikhye in a pot. Strain the ssal-jocheong through cloth, and return the strained liquid to the inner pot to reduce with the lid open. Chill the amazake.