Boricha—Korean toasted barley tea—is a comforting beverage regardless of the season. Within the fall and winter, I sip on the new tea to remain heat, and within the summertime, I take pleasure in it straight out of the fridge as a crisp, refreshing beverage. The tea has wealthy, nutty notes, with a delicate sweetness and bitterness that cuts by heavy, hearty meals and lends itself properly to desserts. 

I acquired the thought for this pudding one afternoon once I was craving toasted rice ice cream from Noona, a preferred New York–based mostly ice cream model that focuses on flavors that, in line with their website, have “Asian American aptitude,” equivalent to taro, black sesame, and pandan coconut crunch.  Made with pan-roasted rice, their toasted rice ice cream is deeply earthy, with a taste not not like that of boricha. I puzzled what would occur if I infused milk with boricha. As an alternative of making ice cream from scratch—a undertaking I didn’t really feel like taking over—I made a decision to make a boricha pudding. After making batches and batches of pudding, I lastly landed on a model that has since grow to be my go-to dessert. It’s creamy and wealthy with the nutty, grassy notes of boricha, and a contact of sugar enhances the barley’s pure sweetness.

As a result of boricha is already toasted, there was no want for me to toast it—all I needed to do was incorporate it into the pudding. The query was: How? I began by brewing a extremely concentrated cup of the finely floor barley tea and stirring that into the milk combination. This, nonetheless, proved to be a lot too bitter, and resulted in a tea that just about tasted like espresso. I discovered that steeping the entire grains (as a substitute of finely floor barley) within the milk for half-hour—then mixing and straining it—produced a extra balanced taste. Because the strained milk combination simmers, I whisk cornstarch, sugar, and salt into it, and cook dinner it till it’s simply thick sufficient to coat a spoon. 

Although I prefer to eat the pudding heat off the range, it’s additionally glorious chilly and topped with whipped cream. (As soon as cooled, it takes on a enjoyable, wobbly consistency.) In the event you eat it heat, I like to recommend grating some darkish chocolate on prime or consuming it alongside a speculoos cookie, equivalent to Biscoff. In the event you’re like my mom, a dusting of bokkeum konggaru—roasted soybean powder—is important, because it enhances the nutty notes of the boricha. 

In the event you don’t really feel like topping it with something, relaxation assured that it’s going to nonetheless be scrumptious even when eaten plain. And if you would like much more boricha, serve it with a cup of heat or chilled toasted barley tea.

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