Note: I used the Korean word because I was first familiarized with boribap and other ‘mixed rice’ in Korea, where grains are commonly mixed together before cooking, to give greater variety to the diet. In Korean bori is barley, and bap (or bop, pap, etc.) is rice.
Lately instead of regular white or brown rice, we’ve been enjoying boribap, or rice cooked with barley. I love this combination. We use a short grain brown rice which is a good substitute for sticky white Japanese or Korean rice, and the barley cooked with it gives it a ‘toothsomeness’ that brown rice on its own lacks. Besides that, barley is a healthy grain that is high in soluble fiber and is known to help slow down glucose absorption. This is beneficial because it prevents the spike in blood sugar levels that usually happen after eating simple carbohydrates. This makes barley an especially healthy grain for individuals with type 2 diabetes, or hypoglycemia (like me).
Boribap is very simple to make, and nothing so picky as a recipe is even needed. Just throw some barley into the pot next time you’re cooking brown, or even white rice. I used ‘pot’ barley, and I used half as much of it as I did rice. Brown rice usually needs to be cooked with a 1:2 ratio of rice to water, and I find that this ratio works well for barley, as well. Follow the instructions on your rice package. For extra flavour, you can put a small piece of dried kombu into the water before cooking.
Boribap can be used as you would brown rice. I find it’s very good with donburi, as a side dish with roasted autumn vegetables, alongside a soup or eaten with kimchi.
I made this kimchi last week, and it is amazing. Recipe to follow.
I hope you like boribap as much as I do!
love,
meg
