Decorated with a few floating grains, chilled rice punch or sikhye (식혜) is one of the widely loved traditional beverages in Korea.

Sikhye is made from barley malt powder and rice. It is characterized by its unique sweet flavor. It is originally enjoyed in winter but many people enjoy it throughout the year. It is also called as dansul (단술) or gamju (감주). If you drink it with rice grains, it is called sikhye. If enjoyed without the grains, it is called gamju.





In the past, people drank sikhye to avoid indigestion especially during the holidays when they ate rich, oily food. According to the Korean Food Foundation, its main ingredient, barley malt powder, is rich in amylase, a diastatic enzyme which aids digestion. This enzyme also contains maltose which creates the unique sweet flavor of the beverage. It is subtle and lasts longer, which is different from the intense yet momentary sweetness of sugar.

If you like sweeter desserts, try maejakgwa (매작과) or "fried ribbon cookies" made from flour, honey and fried in oil. Sweetened with syrup, it is named after its shape which is said to resemble a sparrow sitting on a plum tree. It is also known as “taraegwa (타래과)." A sight to behold, maejakgwa can be made in various colors -- yellow, pink and green besides white. Each of the colors can be created using powdered strawberry, Schisandra chinensis, gardenia and mugwort.





[Recipe for Sikhye]

** Ingredients
115 g (1 cup) barley malt powder
2.4 kg (12 cups) water
360 g (2 cups) non-glutinous rice
480 g (2⅓ cups) water
160 g (1 cup) sugar
10 g (1 tbsp) pine nuts





** Preparation
1. Put the barley malt powder in warm water, around 40 ℃, and let it sit for 30 min.
2. Massage the soaked barley malt powder with hands, and sieve through a strainer. Discard the solids after squeezing, and allow the malt particles to sink. When the sediments settle down, decant only the clear malt liquid into another container.
3. Wash the non-glutinous rice and leave to soak in water for 30 min. Then remove the water using a strainer, allowing the water to drain for 10 min.
4. Remove the brown tips from the pine nuts and wipe the nuts with a dry cotton cloth.





** Recipe
1. Put the rice and water in the pot, heat it on high heat, bringing it to a boil. Continue to boil for 4 min. Lower the heat to medium, boil for a further 3 min. When the rice softens, lower the heat to low, and steam for 10 min.
2. Put the steamed rice, malt water and sugar into a thermo-pot (60~65 ℃) and leave for 3~4 hours.
3. When 7~8 rice grains float to the top, remove all rice grains from the pot.
4. Rinse the rice grains in cold water until any sweetness is washed out. Pour the fermented water into the pot, heat for 5 min. over a high heat skimming any foam that appears.
5. Cool down the rice punch, pour into a bowl, top with rice grains and pine nuts, and serve.

[Recipe for maejakgwa]

** Ingredients
White dough: 70g wheat flour, 0.5g salt, 30g ginger juice
Pink dough: 25g wheat flour, 0.2g salt, 1g (1/4 tsp) strawberry powder, 15g ginger juice.
Mugwort dough: 25g wheat flour, 0.2g salt, 1g (1/4 tsp) mugwort powder
Yellow dough: 25g wheat flour, 0.2g salt, 2g (gardenia 2g, water 30g) gardenia water, 10g ginger juice
Syrup: 80g (1/2 cup) sugar, 100g (1/2 cup) water
6g (1 tbsp) pine nut powder





** Preparation
1. Sprinkle salt onto the wheat flour for each color and sieve.
2. Starting with the ingredients for the white dough, knead together the white wheat flour-salt mixture with ginger juice. Repeat the process for other dough, combining the ingredients well.
3. Wrap each ball of dough individually with clean cotton cloths and let them sit for 20 min.
4. Roll out the white dough into 0.2cm-thick sheets and divide it into three parts. Roll out the remaining three colored dough balls into sheets measuring 0.2cm-thick. Take each color and place a section of the white dough on top, and roll the sheet out measuring 0.2cm-thick.
5. Cut the rolled dough into rectangles measuring 2 cm-wide and 4 cm-long. Make three slits, insert one end into the center slit, then flip over.





** Recipe
1. Put the sugar and water in a pot, and boil over a low heat for 15 min. to make syrup.
2. Pour cooking oil into a pan and heat for 5 min. over a medium heat. When oil temperature reaches 130℃, fry the dough and let it sit for 2 min. Fry for another 2 min. after turn over, and the drain oil using a strainer.
3. Coat the fried dough in syrup. Place the syrup-covered cookies on a dish and sprinkle pine nut powder.





Managed by Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
In cooperation with the Institute of Traditional Korean Food (ITKF)
Content from “The Beauty of Korean Food: 100 Best-Loved Recipes”
arete@korea.kr