Sikhye is a traditional Korean beverage made with barley malt powder (yeotkiereum: 엿기름), and rice. The taste is sweet and cold, with its own particular subtle flavor coming from barley malt. I love Sikhye because of the flavor! Without the flavor, it will be like a bowl of sweet water and rice.
Actually it’s known to help your digestion which is true for me! After eating lots of delicious food on festival days, I would drink this Sikhye as not only for dessert but for my digestion. I believe it solves my clogged stomach! : )
I am surprised by the fact that so many people have requested this beverage. I had thought Sikhye would be one of a few dishes not likable to people from another culture. This was my thought when I was requested this food for the first time: “Wha? Sikhye is popular to people from other cultures, too?”
I found that most people who requested this food had known about it. They say, “Maangchi, what’s the white drink served at a Korean restaurant? If you can, please post the recipe.” “Whenever I go to my favorite Korean restaurant, they serve delicious cold rice drink, can I request the recipe?”…
When I lived in Korea, one day I gave Sikhye to my American friend. I remember what he said at that time after sipping a little sikhye. “oops! What is this!… it looks like cereal with sugar water and the taste is kinda weird!” : ) I thought it was very funny, I could put myself into his shoes. I may feel the same way if I taste something very new to me and I find it’s totally different from the taste what I expect!
Don’t expect the taste of a bowl of cereal with sugar water!
Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
A package of barley malt powder, 2 cups of rice, 2 cups of sugar (adjust to your taste), 24-30 cups of water, and pine nuts
Directions:
- Put 1 package of barley malted powder (1 pound) in a large basin and mix it with 24-30 cups of water. Let it sit for 2 hours until all the dregs are sunk to the bottom of the basin.
- Make rice and set it aside.
How to make rice using a pot:- Wash 2 cups of short grain rice. Drain and put in a pot with thick bottom.
- Pour 1.5 cups of water into the pot. Soak it for an hour and close the lid.
- Bring the pot to a boil over medium heat for 10 minutes.
- Open the lid and turn the rice over with a rice scoop or spoon.
- Simmer it over low heat for another 10 minutes! You will have nice fluffy rice!
- When the mixed liquid of barley malt powder and water is completely separated (it takes about 1.5 hours-2 hours), pour the clear liquid from the top into your rice cooker .
* tip: if you have leftover clear liquid, save it and keep it in the refrigerator. We are going to use it later. - Add 1 cup of sugar and the cooked rice.
- Stir it and set the rice cooker’s function to “warm” for 4- 5 hours. Be sure not to set it “cook.” The reason for setting it to “warm” is to ferment the rice so that the cornstarch from the rice converts to sugar. If you boil it, the fermenting process will stop.
- Throw out the sediments sunk on the bottom of the basin.
- 4 hours later, check to see if the rice is fermented or not. When the rice is fermented, a few grains of rice will float to the top of liquid.
- Strain the rice and rinse it in cold water. Set it aside in a container. Add a little cold water and keep it in the refrigerator.
- Transfer the liquid from the rice cooker to a large pot, and add the saved leftover liquid from #3 if you have it.
- Add 1 cup of sugar and bring to a boil.
* tip: you can add more water and sugar if you want. - Remove the foam floating on the top of the boiling liquid.
- Cool it down and transfer it to a glass jar or bottle and keep it refrigerator.
- To eat, serve it cold in a bowl with a scoop of rice from #8. Drop in a few pine nuts, just before serving it.
* tip: you can add crushed ice made with sikhye liquid. If you like all your rice grains to float, add 1 tbs of sugar and mix it right before serving it.
that looks delicious~!
how long did it take you to make that though?
Can this recipe be made with Brown Short Grain rice??
I would use white rice.
Hi Maangchi!
I really love this drink. I got it just ready at a Korean Store. Unfortunately I can`t find the malt powder so I wanted to ask whether I can just use Boricha (Barley tea) and grind it or would that be a bad idea?
Thank you
whoa whoa Toto, no, no! : )
You need malt flakes or powder to make shikhye. http://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/barley-malt-powder
Hi Maangchi…
I had this drink after a Korean dinner at a restaurant, they called it “rice punch” I believe it was the same. I noticed the flavor of ginger in the drink and really enjoyed the ginger flavor added to the drink.
At what point can I add the ginger? Perhaps when the mixture is on the stove top to cook the ginger?
Thank you for your assistance….
~Moni
Moni,
If you want to add ginger, add it right before step 10.
Step 10: Add 1 cup of sugar and bring to a boil.
I bought the Malted Bailey Powder in US and I made the rice drink successfully. Thank you very much for your recipe.
Now I’m in my country, Vietnam. I went to the Korean market, they said they didnt have that powder. However, they have other package to make the rice drink. It looks like the bailey or rice seeds, but I dont know how to make it :(
Can you help me?
Thanks a lot.
Help!
I dont think my rice cooker is big enough.
Can I reuse the rice or is there a different way to do this?
yes,it’s possible to make shikhye without using a rice cooker, especially when you make large quantities.
Keep it on the stove with low heat and when it reaches hot temperature (more than 40 Celsius), turn the heat off. Then reheat it again when it cools down (about 30 Celsius).
You will have to keep an eye on it. Don’t let it boil over. If it’s too hot, the rice grains in shikhye will not be fermented.
Good luck with your shikhye making!!
Hi! So I finally decided to make this and I bought a package similar to yours that said “malt flour (fine)” but what I found was that it was not flour-like and had more coarse pieces in it. As a result, when I added the water, it did not look like what you had. Here are two pictures: (did I buy the wrong package ?)
http://i42.tinypic.com/13yj978.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/2dgmbeg.jpg
yeah, the package says it’s fine malt powder but it looks coarse in the second photo. Don’t worry much about it. It’s just wrong translation.
Follow the directions in the recipe, then you will make good shikhye! : )
Put the mixture of water and coarse barley malt flakes into a strainer and wait for water to drain out. Throw away the stuff in the strainer. Then wait until the fine sediments are sunk on the bottom. You need only clear water to make shikhye.
this is probably a stupid question, but is it possible to make shikye without a rice cooker?
Of course it’s possible to make shikhye without using a rice cooker, especially when you make large quantities.
Keep in mind only one thing keep the temperature warm about 40 Celsius. If it’s too hot, the rice grains in shikhye will not be fermented.
so should i just keep it on the stove with the heat barely on and keep checking the temp.?
oh, and btw, thanks so much for your reply hon, i love your recipes, especially your kimchi, its simply the best, ive tried so many other recipes and none of them are as good or as easy to make, it comes out perfect everytime!!
yes, you are right.
Keep it on the stove with low heat and when it reaches hot temperature (more than 40 Celsius), turn the heat off. Then reheat it again when it cools down (about 30 Celsius)
You will have to keep an eye on it. Don’t let it boil over.
Good luck with your shikhye making!!
Wow, wonderful delicious sihkye, mine came out delicious! I have been enjoying it nightly for dessert, I love the malted barley flavor, and the sweetness with the ice cubes floating in it. I’m making another batch right now for my nieces, they are going to LOVE it as a drink to go with their salty snacks while they study. So much better than the canned stuff, thanks Maangchi for making this video and recipe available for me to make it!
Congratulation! “the sweetness with the ice cubes floating in it”, ooh, it sounds very delicious and cool!
Hi maangchi!
I recently had some cereal drink my korean friend gave me, however, I don’t think it is sikhye. Can you confirm what this drink is and whether the process of making it is similar? http://www.wjfood.com/beverage/morningrice.asp
Thanks!
I don’t know much about the beverage. Please leave your question here: http://www.maangchi.com/talk/forum/general-discussion
I hope someone else give you the answer.
that is probably sweet rice water it tends to be a little expensive because the process is very time consuming. but i dont mind spending a little more ^ ^”. its also very delicous yum yum!
~justine
Hi there Maangchi!~
I was wondering,
about a year ago I visited Korea for the first time, and the family I stayed with took me to a beautiful restaurant. It seemed very unique in that it had traditional sliding doors, underground heating, and each room led outside instead of being one big building. They served a really delicious drink in a wooden cup that tasted sweet & had rice in it, but was room temperature(maybe because it was cold at night?). Could this have been sikhye or a different drink altogether?
Thank you so much!~ :]
yes, I think it’s shikhye.
I love shikhye, but it’s so time consuming to make…
I bought some bottled shikhye and canned shikhye from the supermarket, but it didn’t taste as good as the homemade ones… so I finally found time to make this and it is so worth it!!! So good and refreshing!! Thank you maangchi!
yeah,agree! homemade shikhye is much more delicious!
Hi Maangchi, you are the best. I’ve followed your recipe for the sikhye and it was so sucessful, I have some questions, yesterday i asked my brother to buy the malted powder and the rice from the Korean Supermarket, but he bought me the malted powder(i guess you know which one i’m talking about) which is not ground and he got me the sweet rice. can I use the sweet rice instead of the regular one? and can i use the malted powder which’s not ground?? Thanks for your help
yes, you can use either malted powder or crushed malted flakes.
And sweet rice (glutinous rice) is used to make shikhye,too.
Thank you very much!
you are so kind, thank you very much and have a happy new year
Hi Maangchi!
Love all your videos…they’re very helpful.
Sikhye is one of my all time favorite drink. I’m going try to make it but I have a few questions. Instead of cooking the rice the traditional way to make sikhye, can I cook the rice in a rice cooker? Can I refrigerate the rice together with the drink instead of refrigerating them separately? Also, if I want a darker color drink and stronger taste, would I use more malt powder and less water? Thank you!
Jenny
P.S. love your blog. Your backpacking story is inspirational…I would like to do that one day! ^_^
1.Yes, you can use your rice cooker to make rice for shikhye, but use less water than usual rice making. Rice grains should not be mushy.
2.Yes, you don’t have to separate rice grains from the shikhye juice before keeping in the refrigerator.
3. no, you don’t have to. The ratio of the ingredients for this recipe will make strong flavor of shikhye. If it’s too strong, you and add more water and sugar.
I finally made sikhye and it turned out great! Some minor adjustments on my part is cutting down some sugar and I had to strain the liquid at the end because there was still some starch floating around. Like Kim, my sikhye was more of a light tea color, but I don’t care because it tasted delicious! Thanks so much for sharing your recipes Maanchi! :) When it’s the right season for my market to stock on dried persimmons, I really want to try your Sujunggwa recipe next!