Ang Chow - Hong Chew - Chinese Red Rice Wine Recipe

Version #1
Ingredients

1. 1kg glutinous rice
2. Two pieces of wine cake (chew pia) -blended
3. Two taels red rice (ang kek bee) - blended

Preparation

1. Soak Glutinous rice in water overnight
2. Cook rice (you can steamed the rice so that it does not touch the water as per Sake brewing recommendations)
3. Break the wine cake and mix it with the red rice
4. Mix #3 thoroughly with the cooked rice
5. Let it ferment 2-4 weeks
For the first week , stir it every day , then twice weekly. Strain in a muslin cloth , wine for cooking and residue for marinating.


Version #2
Ingredients

1.1kg glutinous rice
2. 2 pieces of wine yeast cake (chew pia) - blended
3. 90g red rice yeast "ang kark" (Monascus Purpureus) - blended
4. 500cc Boiled cool water.

Preparation :

Soak Glutinous rice for at least 8 hours. Drain and then steam the rice over a bamboo steamer lined with a piece of cheese cloth over boiling water for at least 30 minute or until rice is cooked. Spread the rice out on a tray and allow to cool for 3 hours. Blend ang-kark and chew pia together until powdery in a electric grinder.
Set aside a bowl for mixing the glutinous rice with the blended dry ingredients. Mix a generous amount of glutinous rice with some red powder ( blended ingredients ). Continue mixing till all are used up.
Store in a cool dark place for example, in your store room .One week later, pour the fermented ang chow into the white cloth bag allowing wine to filter through. And let ferment for as long as 2 months. When ready, dish out all the rice wine storing it in another clean bottle.

Version #3
Ingredients

1.1.5kg glutinous rice
2. 2 pieces of wine yeast cake (chew pia) - blended
3. 300gm red rice yeast "ang kark" (Monascus Purpureus) - blended
4. 1L boiled cool water.

Preparation :

1. Cook approximately 1.5 kg of glutinous rice with water in normal rice cooker. Once cooked, take it out and set aside to cool overnight.
2. Once the glutinous rice is properly cooled, take in lumps and coat with blended red rice bran (use approximately 300gm). Place in clean jar. And add some crushed wine biscuits. For this amount, crush 2-3 wine biscuits and apply some on every layers . Pour in approximately 800 gm to 1 litre of filtered water. Less if you like your Ang Chew really concentrated and more vice versa.
3. Cover with a piece of clean cloth held tight with rubber band/strings.
4. During the fermentation process, the red rice mixture will start to float upwards causing 'boiling' bubbles and these form the essential Uang Chew. This stage will happen between 24 to 48 hours and will last for another few days. At this stage, it is important to stir the mixture at least twice a day to avoid overflowing or use only half a jar/container. During this process, the red rice mixture will separate from the liquid and stay afloat.
5. The mixture will then stabilise and red rice will slowly sink back towards the bottom of jar after a week or so (This is when the cloth can be taken off and replaced with a proper lid or on top of the cloth, cover with a metal bowl). The entire procedure will take approximately a month or so.
6. The whole content will then be filtered with a piece of white clean cloth hanged and allowing it to drip.
7. Produce collect about 5 botols of hong chew

My mother makes this with Dayak's pulut (local red glutinous rice), it is about 3 weeks old and the wine is already filtered out from the mixture, my mother will use the wine to cook ka cang ma. While for me, I'll add in the red rice yeast to this mixture so that I can cook my favorite Ang Chow Chicken with it.

Tips:

• Rice wine can be aged in its airtight container for years and can attain an alcohol volume of 22 percent, the highest possible from natural fermentation.
• Rice wine is classified as either dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet, sweet or extra-sweet depending on when the fermentation of sugar into alcohol is stopped. The earlier fermentation is stopped, the sweeter the wine.
• Avoid touching any food with a high acid content, especially lemons, while preparing rice wine. Any contact with such acid could turn the wine to vinegar.

Ref:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2059791_make-rice-wine.html
http://unclephilipsg.blogspot.com/2009/07/homebrew-chinese-rice-wine-aka-ang-chow.html
http://homecookedfood.blogspot.com/2007/01/ang-chow-chinese-red-rice-wine.html
http://gregwee.blogspot.com/2008/02/secret-foochow-red-wine.html