Sweet Rice Drink is one of the most common and popular traditional holiday drinks in Korea. There are not many ingredients in it; however, it takes long time to make. That is why it is a special drink for holidays. ๐ It tastes a little like iced tea, but it has a unique barley and rice flavor. It is my favorite Korean drink. ๐ Lunar new year is coming soon, so try this cool and sweet Korean drink for that special day. ๐ Now I get to say, “Happy New Year” again! ๐
Yield: 2ยฝ Quarts
Short Korean Lesson
- Ssal (์) = Rice
- BoRi (๋ณด๋ฆฌ) = Barley
Video Instructions
Main Ingredients
- 2 Cups Coarse Malted Barley Powder
- 10 Cups Water
- ยพ Cup Short Grain Rice (2 Cups Cooked Rice)
- ยพ Cup White Sugar
Directions
Soak 2 cups of malted barley powder in 6 cups of cold water for an hour.
After an hour, the barley powder will be softer. Rub and squeeze the powder in water for several minutes to make the water a milky color. Strain the barley water mixture. Set aside the water.
Add 4 cups of water to the leftover barley powder.
Rub and squeeze it again for several minutes.
Strain the milky water, and combine it with the first straining.
Leave the barley water sit for 6 hours, or overnight, in the refrigerator. The powder will sink to the bottom and clear water will be on top.
You need about 2 cups of cooked rice, so an hour before you remove the barley mixture from the refrigerator, cook about ยพ cup of short grain rice. Make the rice a little on the dry side for this recipe; so, use a slightly smaller amount of water when cooking the rice.
If you made more than two cups of rice, remove the extra. Then pour the clear water from the barley mixture into your rice cooker. Be careful not to let any of the powder come out. Fill your rice cooker almost to the top with the water. Set your rice cooker to the “keep warm” function for about 3 hours.
Pour any leftover barley water into a separate container and save it for later.
After pouring off the clear water, you will have leftover powder from the bottom. Throw it away or place it in your composter.
About 3 hours later, the rice will start to float, when about 20 pieces of rice float, it is done. Depending on your rice cooker’s temperature, it may be shorter or longer than 3 hours.
Remove about 1 cup of rice from the barley water.
Save that rice in a container with a little bit of cold water in your refrigerator. That rice will be used for decorating the drink later.
Pour the barley water and rice from the rice cooker into a large pot, along with the leftover barley water you saved before. Cook it on medium-high.
Once it starts to boil, add ยพ cup of sugar. You may want to add a little more than that.
Occasionally remove the foam from the surface of the drink. This helps to improve the flavor.
Once it starts to boil again, cook for 15 more minutes on medium-high, and then turn off the heat.
Cool the drink before serving. When you serve the drink, pour some of it into a bowl or cup; then add some of the rice you saved in the refrigerator. The rice will float on top of the drink.
Store the drink in the refrigerator. Enjoy! ๐
hi aeris,
i have been looking for this recipe so long.and finally…i found it ๐
can’t wait to try it anymore
but, i’m wondering how long it can be stored in refrigerator?
hi katoo,
It can go bad pretty quickly…so I will say.. less than a week.. few days.. ^^
Hi Aeri,
์์ฉํ์yo. I forgot the Korean keyboard. Sorry! Anyonghaseyo! Your recipe for sweet rice tea reminded me of going to a cafe in Seoul when I was in college for tea and parfaits! ๐ I will make this recipe soon.
Do you have a recipe for kalguksu by any chance? It is one of my favorite Korean soups.
๊ฐ์ฌํฉ๋๋ค
์ด๊ฐ์
hi Jocelyn,
^^ ๊ด์ฐฎ์์ ~~~
I will add your request in my list.. thanks ๐
Ooooh thanks Aeri!
Glad to hear that you are fine. ๐ If you have the option, can you do the clam broth one? I always love that one the best. But I will be happy with whatever you do. It’s all soooooo good!!
๐ ๋ฐ์๋ค!
Jocelyn
hi Jocelyn,
haha.. okay ^^ I will remember your request. ๐
Hi aeri! I don’t know where to post my message. I found your site in google when I was looking a recipe of mul naengmyun. Thank you for your site i learned a lot of korean recipes here. I am a filipina and my husband is korean i used to cook myuk guk and jeyuk bokkeum only, but now i can cook some of his favorites ….mulnaengmyun.
Thank you very much and more power! ๐
hi Choi Na Yun,
Nice to meet you. ๐ hehe.. yes cook many more Korean food for your husband.. Hope to see you more often here. thanks ๐
Happy Lunar New Year!
Hey Aeri,
Thanks for the post!
I remember got one time i went to a korea restaurant. After finishing dinner, they gave a drink. it taste sweet like this rice drink but got a strong ginger flavor. You know whats is the drink? ๐
hi Xueli,
it’s same thing.. they just added ginger in it.. since I don’t like ginger flavor much to my rice drink..I didn’t add..but that’s pretty common in korea.. hehe
hi aeri! I was wondering if it’s ok to use fine barley powder for this drink because I couldn’t find any chucky looking one, and us it ok to use pressed barley for this drink?
hi thanh,
Yes you can use that.. just the amount of water and other ingredients.. using method can be slightly different.. do you know “maaangchi” ?? she is very popular korean cooking blogger on youtube .. she used fine barley powder for her recipe … please watch hers..then you will get exact recipe.. here is a link for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neLyt1h5-1o
Hi Aeri,
Could you teach us how to make a alcohol beverage called Mak Gu Li? (Rice wine)I tried this beverage several times in Korean restaurant and it tasted really good (especially with fresh fruit flavour ). I have bought a bottle of this wine in liquor store, however it was not thick as I tasted in restaurant. I also know there is kit for making this rice wine and I can buy it from H-mart. It will be great if you can teach step by step
hi LauraFang,
Sorry, I never drank makguli before (I don’t drink alchohol)..and don’t know how to make it either.. but I remember a good Korean cooking blogger (maangchi) made her own makgulli sometime ago.. I can add a link for you. maybe you can ask her how to make it. You might already know her though..hehe anyway..
http://www.maangchi.com/
If you have other request..please ask me…if I can make it, I will make it for you. thanks ๐
Love this drink. I tried this at korean tea house in insadong on my trip to korea last year. Very delicious. Too bad I can’t find the malt barley powder in my country ๐
Hi aeri! Thanks so much for this recipe! I have a question. The rice pieces were floating in the rice cooker fine. Lots of them actually! But after i strained and boiled the liquid, now i cant get any rice pieces to float! Do you know what i did wrong? Even the rice i took out and saved after the rice cooker step won’t float. Help please! Thank you! Your website and recipes are wonderful and a real life saver!
hi anna,
First my question is if you followed the same steps my recipe said.. ๐ What I can guess your problem is… maybe you over cooked in your rice cooker.. you said lots of rice pieces were floated in your rice cooker. usually when around 20 pieces of rice float.. it is done for rice cooker. You save some of the rice from rice cooker (after keep them in warm for sometime..) in the refrigerator..and rest of the rice .. you boil on the stove with the liquid.. so I wonder if you didn’t save some of your rice separately.. because the rice you use for decoration (floating) shouldn’t be boiled or over cooked.. then it will not float. Hope this help.
I made Shikhye according to your recipe last weekend. It tastes wonderful ๐ A lot of work tho ๐ฏ Yesterday it stared to get a bit sour, but still drinkable. So I’d say it lasts 4-5 days in the fridge.
hi Hauke,
That is awesome. Thanks for trying my recipe. ๐
Hi, Aeri. Just to ask what type of short grain rice to use to cook? Is’t calrose rice (sushi rice) or glutanios rice (sticky rice)?
I’m confused already. Please advise me! I hav prepared the malted water overnight which followed your recipe!!! Now is the time to cook the rice!!!
Thanks! I love sikhye very very much and it is more delicious than our chinese barley drink!
Thanks for posting this marvelous recipe on YouTube!
hi Liu liu,
I’m very sorry for late reply. I couldn’t use website for sometime. ใ ,ใ It is too late to reply..but it is short grain rice..which is sushi rice. I’m sorry again. Hope you got the right one for yours. Thanks