Snacks & sweets · Korean home cooking

Easy rice-cooker sikhye (sweet rice drink)

Name: Easy rice-cooker sikhye (sweet rice drink)
Total time: 510 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients: Active barley malt for sikhye (yeotgireum); Freshly cooked plain short-grain rice; Water; Sugar; Fresh ginger

A small batch of Korean sweet rice drink using plain cooked rice, active barley malt and a rice cooker. About 25 minutes of hands-on work; warm holding and chilling take several hours.

510 min4 servings6 stepsDifficulty: Intermediate

Easy rice-cooker sikhye (sweet rice drink)

AI-generated cooking illustrations. Follow the written quantities and instructions.

01 / Before you start

Ingredients

4 servings

Everyday kitchen measurements

For 4 servings. Use a small 180 ml paper cup, a level eating spoon (about 15 ml) and a small teaspoon (about 5 ml).

How to fill the cup and spoons

Use the same cup and spoons throughout. Their sizes vary, so these amounts are approximate. Spoon flour in loosely and level the top without pressing. Measure vegetables after chopping, without packing them down. The amounts in g/ml are the original reference quantities. For part of a pack, use the specified pack weight and divide the contents evenly.

King Arthur Baking

Essential, optional and substitute ingredients

Keep essential ingredients. For a replacement, use its listed amount and cooking changes instead of that ingredient’s original amount. Skip optional ingredients and their preparation if omitted. Photos show the original recipe.

Active barley malt for sikhye (yeotgireum)½ of a 100 g packOriginal quantity: 50 g
Essential
Use active food-grade barley malt sold for sikhye, containing the enzymes needed to sweeten rice. Roasted barley tea, malt syrup, flour and sugar cannot replace it. Contains barley gluten.
Freshly cooked plain short-grain rice½ small bowlOriginal quantity: 75 g
Substitute available
If Freshly cooked plain short-grain rice is unavailable

Use instead
Freshly cooked plain long-grain rice

Substitute quantity
½ small bowlReference quantity: 75 g

Use unsalted cooked rice, not dry grains or oily seasoned rice. The grains may stay more separate.
Water6 paper cupsOriginal quantity: 1080 ml
Essential
Use drinking water. Extra water for washing the filter bag is discarded.
Sugar2 level eating spoonsOriginal quantity: 24 g
Optional
May be omitted if the drink is sweet enough after the warm holding stage. Add only at the boiling stage; sugar cannot replace the malt.
Fresh ginger2 thin slicesOriginal quantity: 5 g
Optional
May be omitted. It adds a gentle ginger aroma; leave the water and cooking time unchanged.

Tap each ingredient as you prepare it. Check product labels for egg, soy, sesame, wheat, fish or shellfish where relevant.

02 / You’re ready to cook

Step-by-step cooking

Step 1

Check that the rice cooker can maintain its contents at 60–65°C on a suitable warm setting, using its manual and a food thermometer. Use freshly cooked plain rice. Put the barley malt into a clean food-safe fine mesh bag with room for it to swell.
Step 1
Step 2

Put 6 paper cups of water at about 60°C in a clean bowl. Immerse the malt bag for 20 minutes, gently squeezing it to release cloudy malt liquid. Remove the bag and let the liquid settle for 10 minutes. Do not boil the malt at this stage.
Step 2
Step 3

Put the freshly cooked rice into the clean rice-cooker bowl. Slowly pour in the malt liquid, leaving the heavy sediment at the bottom behind. Stir gently to separate the rice grains. Close the lid and select the verified 60–65°C warm setting, not the cooking cycle.
Step 3
Step 4

Hold at 60–65°C for 4–6 hours, checking from 4 hours. Several rice grains should float and the liquid should taste gently sweet when a clean spoonful is cooled. Do not hold at room temperature or switch the cooker off. If the equipment cannot maintain the required temperature, do not use this method.
Step 4
Step 5

Transfer the liquid and rice to a saucepan. Add the ginger and up to 2 level eating spoons of sugar, tasting before adding it all. Bring to a full boil, then boil gently for 5 minutes with the lid off, stirring and skimming foam. Remove the ginger.
Step 5
Step 6

Cool promptly by placing the saucepan in an ice-water bath and stirring with a clean spoon, keeping bath water out of the drink. Transfer to small clean containers and refrigerate within 2 hours. Chill for about 2 hours and serve with a few of the cooked rice grains.
Step 6

03 / Enjoy your meal

Finished dish

Helpful tips

Makes about four small glasses. Allow roughly 8½ hours including a possible 6-hour warm stage and chilling; cooker and malt strength vary. A rice cooker with a verified 60–65°C holding setting and a food thermometer are needed for this method. Without active malt, rice and sugar alone do not become sikhye. If the mixture was held below 60°C for 2 hours or longer, discard it rather than trying to fix it by boiling. After cooking, cool promptly in shallow containers or an ice-water bath and refrigerate within 2 hours, or within 1 hour if the room is hotter than 32°C. Keep at 4°C or below and use within 3–4 days. This is a refrigerated drink, not shelf-stable bottled food.