Barley Congee

I have had a difficult time throwing off the weight since I had Alistair, but it is only recently I have made a concerted effort to really take it off and keep it off. One of the changes I made was trading out simple carbs for complex carbs, such as barley.

I never considered how versatile barley could be and reserved it for my mom's legendary beef/chicken barley soup. But when Jocelyn made the last batch I asked her to pressure cook a half cup of extra barley and set it aside for me. Knowing beef and barley are a natural pairing I assumed I would make some sort of tomato based stew, but then Jocelyn made her amazing steamed fish and that changed my entire approach. When you think about barley's thickening power (see almost every recipe I have for use of barley flour), it could potentially behave like rice does in congee. And let me tell you, congee is one of the most comforting bowls of morning love you can ever eat.

I had steamed fish (seasoned with garlic, green onion and ginger), spinach, garlic paste (I make and keep a jar in the fridge) and, of course, cooked barley. So I got to assembling a dish. And it was absolutely delicious and less carb heavy than rice. It will naturally be on the thicker side of congee, but I never liked thin congee anyways. And if the barley thickens up too much, just thin it out slightly with a little bit of water.

You can substitute out ingredients as needed. My rule of thumb would be one leafy green vegetable, one protein, a strong seasoning, and optionally include green onion and century egg. For a couple options, you could do minced pork, garlic greens, black fungus (mushroom), century egg and fish sauce, or chicken, yo choi, garlic and chili. There are so many variations and I can't wait to try them all.

The recipe below serves one, but you can adjust it upwards to serve the whole family.

This is about to get in my belly.

Ingredients:
White Fish (Sole, Tilapia, Cod or similar)		6 oz fillets, steamed
Barley		1 cup, cooked (preparation shown for 1 cup uncooked)
Water		2 cups (barley), 1/4 cup (congee)
Spinach		2 cup, sliced
Garlic		1/4 tsp, minced
Siracha		1/2 tsp
Fish sauce		1 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper		1 tsp, ground
Green Onion		chopped, to garnish

Barley Preparation:

1. Rinse barley in a sieve under cold water. Drain.
2. Toast barley in a pressure cooker, stirring often. 
3. When fragrant, immediately pour in water and add a pinch of salt.
4. Stir well and bring to a boil.
5. Seal pressure cooker with whistle (follow the instructions for your pressure cooker) and let it build pressure until it whistles.
6. Reduce heat to low and let it cook for approximately 15 mins.
7. Take the pot off the heat and let it cool completely.
8. When you remove the lid (make sure you release the pressure completely before you do this!) the barley should be soft all the way through.

Congee Preparation:

1. Wash and chop spinach.
2. In a pot on medium-low heat, add spinach, minced garlic, black pepper, fish sauce and siracha. Give it a quick stir.
3. Add the cooked barley. This can be fresh from the pressure cooker or leftover from the fridge - the only difference is the amount of water needed and time stirring to reconstitute the original consistency.
4. Add water slowly while stirring. Continue adding water as needed to create a creamy congee like texture. The key is to continue stirring. Agitating the barley releases the starch to form the sauce. No stirring just leaves you with barley and strongly flavoured water.
5. Once the texture is perfect remove the pot from the heat - you do not want to dry out the congee at this point.
6. Ladle out into soup bowls and layer the steamed fish on top (assuming the fish is well seasoned during steaming - think ginger, green onion, garlic, soy sauce).
7. Garnish with green onions.