For years, I was anti-cabbage, but kimchi righted the ship for me. This tangy, brick-hued pickle adds life to any dish it's served alongside, but in our Toasted Barley with Shiitake Mushrooms and Kimchi, it imbues the humble grain with welcome tartness, a little spice and an enticing funkiness.

Kimchi contributes a jolt of acidity with a lively quality you can’t get without active fermentation. While the cabbage and radish pieces can be fished out of the jar and munched on, kimchi is also packed with flavorful juices. We use the juice as well as the solids to add sourness and umami to the dish. So kimchi acts as a bulky main ingredient and as a sauce, which means this recipe doesn’t require a long list of ingredients to reward you with plenty of flavor.

What is kimchi?

Kimchi is a Korean side dish or accompaniment that most commonly consists of fermented Napa cabbage, along with a few other optional vegetables mixed in, like radishes or carrots. The rest of the mixture is made with an assortment of seasonings and spices including salt, sugar, fish sauce, red pepper flakes and onions. The result is a combination of softened cabbage and other vegetables, pickled in seasonings and naturally rendered juices. The flavor is tangy, savory and peppery, but I wouldn’t say “spicy.” While kimchi varies by brand, the heat is more warming than palate-obliterating. Do not mistake this to mean bland. Like most pickled veggies, kimchi is still quite potent.

Don’t skip toasting the barley

We use pearl barley in our recipe, which is a wonderful alternative carbohydrate if you need a break from rice or pasta. The first step of the recipe, toasting the barley, is how we pack so much flavor into every layer—don’t skip it. This step adds a nutty richness to the barley so it doesn’t disappear behind the earthy shiitake mushrooms and punchy kimchi.

When I first added the barley to the dry pan, I wasn’t completely sure how I would know when the barley was done toasting. I’d toasted rice, pasta and nuts like this, but never barley. I’m happy to report the process is exactly the same. You won’t see much happening in the first minute or so, but when it does get toasting, your nose will be the first to notice. The smell of toasting barley is similar to the aroma of toasted whole wheat bread wafting out of the toaster. Stir the barley a bit more frequently once you start smelling it to ensure it takes on an even color and doesn’t scorch.

How to make Toasted Barley with Shiitake Mushrooms and Kimchi

One of the biggest wins of this recipe is it’s largely hands-off. After browning a few ingredients, all you need to do is add water and let it simmer over low heat before finishing it off with the kimchi and sesame oil just prior to serving.

You’ll need a large pan for this recipe and it should have a well-fitting lid for later. Add the barley to dry toast (no oil or water) over medium-high heat. Once the barley has browned nicely and somewhat evenly in the pan, scrape it out into a bowl to wait its turn.

Add oil to the same pan, along with salt and the sliced shiitakes. Cook them until they’re fragrant and browned on the edges. Add the barley back into the pan, along with grated fresh ginger and a spoonful of gochujang (Korean fermented red chili paste). I added a splash of the water to loosen up the gochujang and ginger, gave it a good stir and then added the rest of the water the recipe calls for. The hard work is done. At this point, the mixture simply simmers, covered, for about 40 minutes so the barley can absorb all of the sweet and savory flavors from the broth.

You’ll need a kitchen towel

After the barley has finished simmering and has absorbed the gochujang-flavored water, the recipe indicates to cover the pan with a kitchen towel and re-cover, off the heat, for 10 minutes. What’s with the towel?

Even off the heat, the barley mixture is still hot, and steam will continue to rise from the pot. To retain some of that heat while allowing the excess water to evaporate—instead of dripping back into the barley—we drape a kitchen towel over the top. The lid helps trap heat and the towel absorbs excess moisture so we don’t have to worry about condensation running into the pan.

Bold finishing touches

After about 10 minutes, remove the lid and the kitchen towel. Stir in the kimchi and its juice, plus the toasted sesame oil. Removing that extra moisture with the help of the kitchen towel means the barley mixture now has a bit of room to take in these added liquids. After a couple stirs, they should absorb. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and garnish as you like with sesame seeds, julienned cucumber or maybe some furikake seasoning.

This Toasted Barley with Shiitake Mushrooms and Kimchi recipe is satisfying, savory and robust. It keeps well in the fridge and reheats exceptionally well in the microwave.

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Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Allie Chantorn Reinmann is a Digital Staff Writer for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street. She’s a Thai-American chef who earned her diploma for Pastry and Baking Arts at The Institute of Culinary Education and worked professionally for over a decade honing her craft in New York City at places like Balthazar, Bien Cuit, The Chocolate Room, Billy’s Bakery and Whole Foods. Allie took her know-how from the kitchen to the internet, writing about food full-time at Lifehacker for three years and starting her own YouTube channel, ThaiNYbites. You can find her whipping up baked goods for cafés around Brooklyn, building wedding cakes and trying her hand (feet?) at marathon running. She’s working on her debut cookbook and lives in Brooklyn, NY.