INTRODUCTION

This recipe is only suitable for those readers’ families who are like my family, never able to finish the entire pot of barley cooked as a dessert or as a detoxification drink.. We cooked the barley porridge and we always have lots of cooked barley grains left after the kids drank all the sweeten drinks..

I knew that it is very wasteful to throw away this barley grains but eating the whole pot of barley grains will become a meal in itself and not a dessert anymore. It is a mass of grains that can make you feel very full.. Therefore, it always ended up in the dustbin. I have therefore decided to use these barley grains to transform them into another dessert – barley almond dessert.

I like almonds and it is another nut that is packed with anti-oxidants. I therefore paired the barley  with almond, added some milk and sugar and transformed become this almond barley dessert. With the addition of these almonds, the aroma is totally different, full of almond fragrance. Barley aroma has been musk by the almond.

Well, this is not actually the traditional almond dessert being sold in Hong Kong dessert shop but it is rather similar. The traditional dessert uses rice as the thickening agent but I have decided to use the cooked barley grains as the thicken ingredients.  In addition, traditional Hong Kong almond dessert uses apricot kernel (南杏，北杏） but I have used the whole almond instead. Taste is very close to the store bought or of negligible differences.

Though taste is close, but texture is slightly rough. If you have the soya bean milk making machine, you can use the machine and the final texture will be finer. Other alternative is to sift the mixture with a muslin cloth. i did not do all these because I am able to take this slightly rougher texture which I think it is not that obvious when this sticky dessert flows down your throat.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: 4-6 adults

• 500 grams or ml of fresh milk
• 300 grams of cooked barley grains
• 150 grams of blanched almonds
• 100 grams of rock sugar

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Put fresh milk, cooked barley grains and blanched almonds in a blender. Blend until as fine as possible.

• Transfer these blended mixture to a pot, add the rock sugar and bring to boil under medium heat. Constant stirring is required until all the rock sugar has dissolved. Best served hot or chilled.

Note:

• If preferred, use a muslin cloth to sift the mixture for a smoother texture.

• You can add pandan leaves to enhance the flavour. White castor sugar can be used to substitute the rock sugar. It is advise that pound the rock sugar before adding to the pot to expedite the preparation.

• For basic barley water preparation, just boil the uncooked barley grains with water in the ratio of 1 cup of barley grains to 4 cups of plain water. Add sugar to taste and pandan leaves to enhance the aroma.

• The dessert will be come stickier when cooled completely. Water can be added if the dessert is too sticky to your liking.

CONCLUSION

I will not recommend you to buy barley and almond specifically for this dessert. However, if you are facing the same problem just like me, you should try this method and family members will be able to appreciate this newly created dessert. Remember that you can always use muslin cloth to sieve the mixture for smoother dessert. This recipe has lots of variations. A bit more or less is acceptable. If you like almond, feel free to increase the quantity. However, you will have to monitor the milk added and possibly the rock sugar quantities.

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