Barley Porridge Cooked in Water
Our homegrown superfood! A very wholesome porridge! Barley is a grain rarely used in cooking. But not everyone knows that it's what pearl barley and barley grits are made from. And in nutritional value these two grains far outstrip popular wheat — first and foremost because of their protein and fiber. So barley dishes can safely be called diet-friendly. The simplest way to cook barley is as a porridge in water. You can eat it on its own, dressed up with berries, nuts, or fruit, or serve it as a side dish.
Cooking method
-
Step 1:
Let's get the ingredients ready. Always use filtered or bottled water for cooking, even when you just need to soak the ingredients. If you want porridge for breakfast, start preparing the night before; for dinner, start in the morning.
-
Step 2:
Sort through the grain, removing any leftover husk and stray bits if needed. Rinse it well in cool running water.
-
Step 3:
Cover the grain with boiling water at a 1:2 ratio. Leave it for at least 5 hours; I left it overnight.
-
Step 4:
By morning the grain will have swelled well and absorbed half the water.
-
Step 5:
Transfer the grain to the pot you'll cook it in and add water so that there's twice as much water as grain again. Add the salt.
-
Step 6:
Set it to cook over medium heat. Once it boils, turn the heat down to low and cook the porridge for 45 to 50 minutes. Leave the lid ajar — the porridge will try to boil over.
-
Step 7:
Toward the end of cooking, the water will boil off and craters like these will appear. Wait another minute and you can turn it off.
-
Step 8:
If you have time, wrap the pot of porridge in a towel and let it rest for a couple of hours; the porridge comes out steamed through and tastier. Add the butter just before serving.
- Barley grain comes as either pearl barley (perlovka) or barley grits (yachka). Pearl barley is polished whole barley grain, while barley grits are cracked. Pearl barley takes a long time to cook and needs soaking beforehand, whereas barley grits don't need soaking. Porridge made in the oven or a slow cooker comes out very tasty, but you can make a worthy version on the stovetop too — just wrap the pot of finished porridge in a towel for a few hours. Besides water, you can cook the porridge in milk or broth, with meat or chicken. Before cooking, you can toast the grain a little in a dry skillet — it improves the flavor.
Caloric content of the products possible in the composition of the dish
- Butter 82% - 734 kcal/100g
- Amateur unsalted butter - 709 kcal/100g
- Unsalted peasant butter - 661 kcal/100g
- Peasant salted butter - 652 kcal/100g
- Melted butter - 869 kcal/100g
- Salt - 0 kcal/100g
- Water - 0 kcal/100g
- Barley - 288 kcal/100g
