Bori-bap (Barley Rice)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 3-quart pot with tight lid or rice cooker
• •Medium pot for parboiling barley
• •Small pot for gangdoenjang
• •Skillet for zucchini namul
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Three small mixing bowls for separate namul

Instructions

1. 1

   Boil the barley

   Rinse the barley until the water is no longer dusty. Put it in a medium pot with 4 cups water and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat and boil gently for 25 minutes for pearled barley, or 10 to 12 minutes for Korean pressed barley, until the grains swell and give under your teeth but still hold their shape. Drain well. Barley and rice do not soften at the same pace, and this is the step that keeps bori-bap from eating like pebbles.

   If you have unhulled barley, this recipe's timing will not suit it. Soak it overnight and boil it 45 to 60 minutes before mixing it with rice, or save it for porridge.
2. 2

   Soak the rice

   While the barley boils, rinse the short-grain rice in several changes of water until the water runs mostly clear. Soak it in fresh water for 20 minutes, then drain it for 10 minutes. Soaking lets the center of each grain cook evenly, and draining keeps the finished rice from turning wet at the bottom of the pot.

3. 3

   Cook the grains

   Combine the drained barley, drained rice, 1 3/4 cups water, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a heavy 3-quart pot. Bring to a boil uncovered over medium-high heat, then cook 5 to 7 minutes, until the water level drops to the surface of the grains and small holes appear. Cover tightly, lower the heat to the lowest setting, and cook 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the pot rest, still covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff gently from the bottom so the barley and rice mix without crushing each other.

   A rice cooker is a safe shortcut after the barley has been parboiled. Use the same 1 3/4 cups water and the mixed-grain setting if your cooker has one.
4. 4

   Make the broth

   Put 1 1/4 cups water, the kelp, and the cleaned anchovies in a small pot. Bring it just to a simmer, then pull out the kelp before it turns the broth slick and bitter. Simmer the anchovies 8 minutes more, then remove them. You should have about 1 cup of clean, savory broth.

5. 5

   Cook gangdoenjang

   Add the onion, diced zucchini, potato, and minced garlic to the broth and simmer 5 minutes, until the potato is nearly tender. Mash the doenjang into a ladleful of broth, then stir it back into the pot so there are no salty lumps. Add the tofu and gochugaru if using, and simmer 6 to 8 minutes, stirring often, until thick and spoonable. Finish with the green chili, scallion, and 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Gangdoenjang (thick soybean paste sauce) should cling to the barley rice, not flood it like soup.

6. 6

   Season soybean sprouts

   Put the soybean sprouts, 1/2 cup water, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a pot. Cover before turning on the heat. Bring to a boil, then cook 6 minutes without lifting the lid. Drain well and season in its own bowl with 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds. Pick lid on or lid off for sprouts and stay with it; half-cooked sprouts hit with cold air develop a raw smell that follows the dish to the table.

7. 7

   Season spinach

   Blanch the spinach in boiling water for 30 seconds, just until it collapses and turns deep green. Rinse under cold water, squeeze firmly, and cut into 2-inch lengths. Season in a separate bowl with 1 teaspoon soup soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, and 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds. Spinach wants a light hand. If you season it like the sprouts, it disappears.

8. 8

   Cook zucchini namul

   Toss the zucchini matchsticks with 1/4 teaspoon salt and let them sit 5 minutes, then squeeze lightly. Heat 2 teaspoons neutral oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook the zucchini 2 to 3 minutes, only until flexible and glossy. Move it to its own bowl and season with 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, and 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds. Salting first pulls out excess water, so the bori-bap does not turn loose and watery when you mix it.

9. 9

   Assemble the bowls

   Scoop the barley rice into wide bowls while it is warm. Arrange the soybean sprouts, spinach, and zucchini in separate piles, then add a generous spoon of gangdoenjang. Add kimchi and sliced perilla or lettuce if using. Let each person mix at the table, tasting before adding anything else. Gochujang is not needed here unless the table insists, and even then, use a small spoon. Let it taste like barley, vegetables, and doenjang.

Chef Tips

• •Buy pearled barley or Korean pressed barley for a weeknight pot. Whole unhulled barley is a different ingredient, good and stubborn, but it needs soaking and a long boil before it belongs with rice.
• •The safe shortcut is the rice cooker after the barley is parboiled. The unsafe shortcut is throwing raw pearled barley in with white rice and hoping kindness will soften it. Kindness does many things. It does not change grain chemistry.
• •Gangdoenjang should be thick enough to sit on a spoon. If it runs like stew, simmer it longer. Bori-bap is mixed, not drowned.
• •Cook the month you're standing in. In spring, add chwinamul or young radish greens. In summer, zucchini and cucumber belong. In winter, use dried radish greens, mushrooms, or soybean sprouts, and season each one alone before it meets the rice.
• •Leftover barley rice keeps 3 days refrigerated or 1 month frozen in single portions. Reheat it covered with 1 tablespoon water per bowl so the grains soften again instead of drying at the edges.

Advance Preparation

• •The barley can be parboiled up to 2 days ahead. Drain it, cool it, and refrigerate it covered, then add it straight to the rice pot.
• •Gangdoenjang can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Warm it gently with 1 or 2 tablespoons water if it has tightened too much.
• •The spinach and soybean sprouts can be cooked a few hours ahead, but season them close to serving so the salt does not pull out too much water. Zucchini namul is best the day it is made.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 520g)