Shikhye

Now, we've - my sister and I - been wanting to post about Korean food for quite a while now, but haven't had a chance to - or was too lazy to write out a recipe. I made Shikhye a few days ago and decided, finally, to post a recipe since it was just so good that I felt I had to share this sweet drink with others.

When I became a vegan, I found myself eating Korean food more and more often, partly because they are so healthy and you can make delicious dishes without milk, egg, butter, meat, etc.

*Shikhye is a traditional Korean drink made with barley malt. There are two types of malt - coarse and powdered. I'm going to post a recipe that calls for malt powder since it's easier to make. It's sweet and good for digestion. It's easy to make, but does take a while so I suggest you start out at night - you'll find out why. Here's the recipe - you can make your own now!

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Shikhye (or Shikeh) makes approx. 5-6L

Ingredients

• 1 package malt powder (usually 400-450g; make sure you buy powdered malt)
• 24 cups (or 6L) of lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups of sugar (adjust to taste)

To make rice

• 1 1/2 cups of rice
• 1 cup of water
• 1 Tbsp of sugar
  

Steps

1. Get a big, big bowl out - since you'll need to pour in 6L of water; I actually used two bowls. Mix malt powder with lukewarm water. Mix it well. Set aside for 2 hours until powder sinks to the bottom.
   
   
2. Cook rice using your rice cooker. If you have time, you can soak your rice in water for 1 to 2 hours so that the grains are plumpy and fluffy when you cook them - but it's not a must.
   
   
3. Mix cooked rice with a tablespoon of sugar. Keep rice in the rice cooker.
   
   
4. After 2 hours, slowly pour the malt powder+water mixture into rice cooker, making sure the sediment at the bottom does not go in. The mixture won't all go in since rice cookers are not all that big, so pour some into a big pot and set aside. In summer, you might need to keep the pot in the fridge so that it doesn't turn sour. Throw away the sediment.
   
   
5. Set the rice cooker to "keep warm" (not "cook") and wait for around 7-8 hours, or until you see several rice floating. This is why it's better to start out at night, so you can sleep while your yummy shikhye is digesting starch into sugar.
   
   
6. When it's ready, transfer into the big pot that was set aside earlier, strain rice, and bring to a boil. Get rid of foam when it starts boiling, for 5 minutes
   
   
7. Turn off the heat and let cool. Wash the strained rice, put it into a bowl, soak it with filtered water, and keep it in the refrigerator.
   
   
8. Pour the cooled shikhye into a pitcher and keep it in the fridge. When serving, add 3-4 teaspoons of soaked rice and let it float, like the picture on top. Now drink up your shikhye!
   

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