Sweet rice drink with barley malt (Sikhye)

1. Tie the barley malt powder in a cloth bag or fine muslin and soak it in 2 l of lukewarm water for 20 minutes, squeezing it in the water several times until the water turns milky; remove the bag and let the liquid settle for 1 hour.

2. Carefully pour off the clear upper part (discard the sediment at the bottom) and pour it with the warm cooked rice into a rice cooker or heavy-based pan.

3. Keep it at about 60 °C for 4 hours – on the "keep warm" setting of a rice cooker or over the lowest possible heat in a pan; during this time the malt enzymes turn the rice starch into sugar – it doesn't ferment and won't become alcoholic.

4. When 8-10 grains of rice float to the surface, lift out the rice with a slotted spoon, rinse in cold water and refrigerate.

5. Bring the liquid to the boil with the remaining 1 l of water, the sugar and the sliced ginger, boil for 5 minutes (this stops the enzyme process), remove the ginger and let cool completely.

6. Serve well chilled, with a spoonful of rice and a few pine nuts on top of each glass.

Tip: Sikhye is the traditional, alcohol-free sweet drink of Korean bathhouses and festivals, drunk after meals as a digestive. Watch the temperature: above 70 °C the malt enzymes are destroyed and the drink won't turn sweet.