Bori (Barley) in Korean Cooking

Barley is the second grain of the Korean kitchen. It rarely appears on its own; it is mixed into rice, brewed into tea, or fermented into gochujang, and in each case it is doing a job that rice alone cannot.

For most people the first encounter is boribap — rice cooked with barley — which was historically what you ate when rice was expensive, and is now eaten by choice for its nuttiness and chew.

How much to mix in

Start at 20-30% barley to rice by volume. Much beyond that and the texture turns noticeably coarse and the pot stops behaving like rice.

Pearled barley is the usual choice because the bran has been polished off and it cooks closer to the rate of rice. Whole hulled barley is nuttier but needs considerably longer.

Soak it separately

Barley absorbs water much more slowly than rice. Thrown into the pot dry alongside soaked rice, it comes out hard while the rice is done.

Soak barley for at least an hour, ideally two, and drain it before combining. Some cooks parboil it for ten minutes instead, which achieves the same thing faster.

Its other jobs

Boricha — roasted barley tea, drunk hot or cold and served in place of water in many Korean households.

Gochujang — traditional recipes use barley malt to convert starch to sugar during fermentation, which is where a good gochujang gets part of its sweetness.

Makgeolli — barley features in some regional brews alongside rice.

Buying and storing

Pearled barley is widely available outside Korean shops and is fine. Look for even, pale grains without a dusty look.

Store it airtight and cool. Barley contains more oil than white rice and can go rancid over a long period — a year is a sensible outer limit, less in a warm kitchen.