During New Year’s, as part of tradition, our family visited many elderly relatives to pay our respects (세배 saebae). I didn’t particularly enjoy every visit (kind of boring to sit thru adults conversation.. 😉 ) but what I always looked forward to was eating the traditional Korean snacks and drinks that was served at each home.
Back then (late 60’s, early 70’s), in almost every home, Korean moms made at least one of two (if not both) drinks at home for the New Year holiday : Sikhye (or Shikhye 식혜) or Sujeongkwa (수정과). And along with these drinks, sweets like yakwa and hankwa was offered. I LOVED the sweet taste of sikhye, especially the soft, melt in your mouth rice that came floating in the drink. As for Sujeongkwa – I never found it yummy. Because I never liked the hot spicy taste of cinnamon and ginger together. There is usually so much of both, I felt my mouth was on fire!!! UPDATE – I recently developed a Sujeonggwa recipe that is actually NOT too strong and spicy and delicious!
Anyway, sadly, like many things these days, it is hard to find real home made shikhye anymore. If you ever tasted the canned sikhye/shikhye that is available in most Korean markets worldwide – I am so sorry… that is really NOT anything close to what the real one tastes like. The canned sikhye is nothing but sugar water. The real sikhye flavors are just not there…sad, sad..
I will show you how you make it the traditional way (well, semi-traditional 🙂 since we do use the modern gadget called the “rice cooker”). BTW, the milled malt barley used here is the same malt used to make beer and bread. However, when a non-Korean malt barley is used, for some reason, it does not always produce the same effect. Perhaps it’s milled differently or not enough of the needed ingredients are in there.
Servings: 10 cups Cooking Time: 6~7 hrs Difficulty: Mod (Difficult if you want rice to float when served)
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cup yeotkireum (엿기름) or milled malt barley
- 10 cup water
- 1 cup short grain rice
- 3/4 ~ 1 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
- pine nuts/dried jujubes/citron syrup/mint leaves (optional)
Directions
- Soak the crushed milled malt barley (yeotkireum 엿기름) in 10 C of warm water for 1 hour. While soaking, massage the malt barley with your hand 2-3 times so that all the good stuff gets loose from the husk.
malted barley in water for sikhye *In the summer, be careful not to use too warm a water because it can actually spoil during the soaking process.
malt soaked in warm water for 1 hr for sikhye * The little green sprigs are the sprouts from the barley.
- Strain malt barley water, making sure you squeeze out all the good stuff by hand in the strainer before throwing it away.
strained malt barley - Rest the strained malt water for 2~3 hrs and you will see white sediments accumulate at the bottom of the bowl.*For a clearer sikhye, let it rest 4~5 hrs.
- In the mean time, cook 1 cup of rice. When cooking rice, use less water to produce a drier rice. The rice granules should easily separate when cooked and not stick together. The old traditional way is to steam the rice which produces the driest rice for sure but that’s a bit too much trouble..People also use leftover rice instead and it does an OK job – the result is just not as pretty.* And when the malt water looks something like below, you are ready to start the next step!
malt barley liquid for sikhye - Add the top liquid part of the malt barley water to the rice cooker with the cooked rice already in it. Leave the white sediments in the bowl as much as possible.* You do not need to pour all the liquid into the rice cooker. It just needs to fully cover your rice. Keep any remaining liquid in the bowl and let it rest until the step 7.
- Keep the rice + malt barley liquid mixture warm ( use the ‘keep warm’ option) in the rice cooker for around 5 hrs or more until about 4~5 rice granules rise to the top like so –
rice floating in rice cooker (sikhye) This means the amylase in the malt has been activated in the warm temperature and has transformed the starch in the rice into maltose making the rice lighter and therefore floating to the top.
*If you don’t have a rice cooker, keep it at 120~140 ℉ (50 ~60 ℃) in a double boiler.
- Now, based on what you want, choose one of the following:
- IF (you want the rice to float when served) THEN strain rice from liquid and rinse under running cold water and drain. Store in the fridge. Also be sure to use 1 cup sugar in step 8 to make the rice float.
- IF (all you care about is the taste) THEN leave the rice in the liquid
- Pour the liquid (and the rice, if you chose option 7.2) into a large pot and any remaining liquid from step 5, again making sure white sediments are not added. Add sugar. Use 1 cup sugar if you like sweet desserts and also if you want the rice to float. Otherwise, start with 3/4 cup.
- Boil on medium heat for 10 minutes. Skim off any foam while it’s boiling.Taste the sweetness and adjust sugar to taste. Also remember that the drink will taste less sweet when served cold.
And now you have a fabulous sweet, flavorful Korean rice dessert drink for parties and guests. Kids will also love this drink!
Cool and store this wonderfully sweet and delicious sikhye or shikhye in the fridge.
Variations
- Add couple pieces of sliced ginger to step 9 for additional flavor.
Serving suggestions
- For the floating rice effect, add the separately stored rice to the drink right before serving. The rice will only float for couple minutes so time it right. If the malt drink is not sweet enough, the rice may not float. Add a tsp of sugar to the cup and mix right before adding the rice. That should do the trick but I do have to warn you, this part is really tricky. It doesn’t always work.. 😉
- Traditionally, pine nuts, dried jujube sliced thinly are used as garnish.
- You can also use little bit of yuzu syrup (유자차 yuja cha) to add a citrus finish before serving.
- My recent favorite find – serve with some mint leaves and it adds a whole new level of freshness!
Korean Sweet Rice Punch with mint (sikhye/shikhye 식혜) Extra Stuff
- Due to the amylase content of shikhye, it acts much like your saliva and helps with digestion. That’s why it is served as dessert after a full meal. So don’t forget to drink it when you feel like you are just too full!!
- Through generations it has been known that shikhye has an effect on nursing mothers – it drys up breast milk. So, don’t drink shikhye if you are pregnant or nursing just as a precaution.
- You can also use malt barley powder instead of the rough milled malt barley I used here. The good thing about this is that you don’t have to strain. But traditionally the rough milled malt is used and I think it has more flavor than the powder.
milled malt barley for sikhye/shikhye (Korean Sweet Rice Punch) 
Sujeonggwa Ginger Cinnamon Punch Slushy Frozen Drink TRY my Sujeonggwa Recipe if you want something quicker but still traditional.
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Sweet Rice Punch (Sikhye 식혜)
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cup yeotkireum (or milled malt barley)
- 10 cup water
- 1 cup short grain rice
- 3/4 cup sugar (up to 1 cup)
- pine nuts/dried jujubes/citron syrup/mint leaves (optional)
Instructions
- Soak the crushed milled malt barley (yeotkireum 엿기름) in 10 cup of warm water for 1 hour. While soaking, massage the malt barley with your hand 2-3 times so that all the good stuff gets loose from the husk.
- Strain malt barley water, making sure you squeeze out all the good stuff by hand in the strainer before throwing it away.
- Rest the strained malt water for 2~3 hrs and you will see white sediments accumulate at the bottom of the bowl.*For a clearer sikhye, let it rest 4~5 hrs.
- In the mean time, cook 1 cup of rice. When cooking rice, use less water to produce a drier rice. The rice granules should easily separate when cooked and not stick together.
- Add the top liquid part of the malt barley water to the rice cooker with the cooked rice already in it. Leave the white sediments in the bowl as much as possible.* You do not need to pour all the liquid into the rice cooker. It just needs to fully cover your rice. Keep any remaining liquid in the bowl and let it rest until the step 8
- Keep the rice + malt barley liquid mixture warm ( use the ‘keep warm’ option) in the rice cooker for around 5 hrs or more until about 4~5 rice granules rise to the top
IF (you want the rice to float when served)
- THEN strain rice from liquid and rinse under running cold water and drain. Store in the fridge. Also be sure to use full 1 cup sugar later to make the rice float.
IF (all you care about is the taste) THEN leave rice with the liquid
- Pour liquid (and the rice, if you chose the taste option) into a large pot and any remaining liquid from step 5, again making sure white sediments are not added. Add sugar. Use 1 cup sugar if you like sweet desserts and also if you want the rice to float. Otherwise, start with 3/4 cup.
Boil on medium heat for 10 minutes.
- Skim off any foam while it’s boiling.Taste the sweetness and adjust sugar to taste. Also remember that the drink will taste less sweet when served cold.
Made it Saturday noon for the family’s Sunday dessert. Your recipe is so clear and easy to follow.
It does taste better than the ones served in Korean restaurants.
I used rough milled Malt barley bought from local Korean grocery.
Thank you for the recipe. Gonna go to the fridge to get some more.
Definitely going to try this!! Please tell me where you got that wooden spoons – I love them and have been looking all over town for them!
Hi Bonnie! Thank you so much – I hope it turns out well for you. So the wooden spoons?? Gosh.. it has been so long I don’t know where I got them.. Either at Insadong, Seoul or somewhere else..If I remember, I will let you know! Enjoy!
Hi JinJoo, I think it’s been over 10 years since I’ve had sikhye. When I was a kid, my mother would ask me what is your favorite Korean food? I’d always say sikhye. I followed your recipe and it was delicious! Thanks for the detailed instructions. Next time I’ll start earlier in the day. I was up at 1:00 a.m. boiling the sikhye. 🙂 I’m looking forward to trying out your recipes.
So happy to hear that you enjoyed it!! But oh dear – 1am?? Yes hopefully you can start earlier next time. Thank you so much and looking forward to hearing from you again.
Hello JinJoo, I haven’t done this, but my aunt used to toast the leftover rice in the rice cooker a little before adding the malt water and it seemed that it had a nutter flavor than what my mother made. Have you heard of this?
Oh, Hmm.. I haven’t heard of it but it sounds it will be nuttier! So basically you are making Nurungji(누릉지) and then making sikhye with it. I just searched Korean internet and yes, there are a few people who say they make their sikhye this way. So just toast your rice and then mix that in! I am going to have to try it sometime too – I LOVE nurungji..Thank you so much for asking. You should definitely try making it yourself. Homemade Sikhye is million times better than the canned stuff. Cheers!
it seems like such a waste to use all the barley powder and let it go to waste, do you ever just boil it and drink it?? Like a milk?
Oh never thought of it. Sure it seems kind of wasteful but never heard of anyone repurposing the barley powder. Will have to look into it… Thanks for commenting!