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.

Fish and Rice Noodle Soup

[NEEDS PIC]

This is a nice, simple soup that is comforting yet light. I think the kids would like it, because it's not going to seem 'fishy', but the sweet vinegar and the tamarind will give it a sweet tang that should be delicious.

For an understanding on the 'sweet vinegar', it look like this bottle:

Ingredients:
White Fish (Sole, Tilapia, Cod or similar)		1 lbs, Fillets only
Gai Lan		8 (approx), chopped
Fried Tofu		1 cup, sliced
Chicken Stock		4 cups
Chinese Sweet Vinegar		3 tsp
Tamarind Sauce		1/4 cup
Onion		1, sliced
Green Onion		4 stalks, chopped
Ginger		1" knob, peeled
Garlic		4 cloves, finely minced
Water		2 L
Soy Sauce		3 tbsp
Canola Oil		3 tbsp
Black Pepper		1 tsp (ground)
Wide Rice Noodles		1 fistful per person

Tamarind Sauce:

1. Take a knob of tamarind paste and place it in a small dish
2. Pour boiling water over the paste. work through with a strong fork. 
3. Cover with a plate and let sit for 15 mins.
4. When the dish cools, stir and heat in the microwave for 40-60 seconds.
5. Stir again and cover to let sit for another 15 mins.
6. When cool, stir and sieve through into a clean bowl. This removes skins and pits.
7. Ta Da. Tamarind Sauce.

Soup Preparation:

1. Fill a kettle of water and leave to boil (use some of this for the tamarind sauce).
2. Clean the fish and slice fillets into 1.5" pieces. Set aside.
3. Wash and chop the Gai Lan and Fried Tofu. Set aside.
4. Slice finely the onion and ginger. Mince the garlic.
5. In a soup pot, add oil and raise heat to medium. Add onion, garlic, ginger and saute. 
6. When translucent, stir in the sweet vinegar, soy sauce and the tamarind sauce. 
7. When sizzling, pour in water to cover, about 2" high.
8. When mixture boils, pour in chicken stock and bring to a boil
9. Add salt and pepper and stir. Leave to boil for 15 minutes.
10. Add Fried Tofu, Gai Lan, and stir. Reduce heat to medium-low.
11. When heat reduces, stir once. Layer slices of fish on top of the broth. 
12. Cover and let steam for 10 minutes.

In a separate dish,

1. place rice noodles and pour hot water and cover. Leave for 10 mins. Do this prior to serving.
2. Pour off water from rice noodles and place in a dish.
3. Ladle soup over noodles.
4. Garnish with green onions..

Fry Shark

My darling children,

So Alexis, in true form to how we raised you, you will not say you do not like a food until you have managed one bite, and you have decided shark is not for you. You cannot understand how devastating this is to me. This is the greatest of beach side foods that I was hoping you would join me in loving. At least, as we both agreed, the shark had no chance to bite you, you bit the shark. Alistair, I'll have to feed you some flavour neutral fish before you can tackle the almighty shark. I'll prepare it again when you are old enough to form an opinion on its taste. So in the event that the flavour is something you both will grow into over time (I hope), here is the recipe for that weird fish mamma used to make.

It is not typically Guyanese, but since having bake and shark at Richards in Maracas Bay (thank you Paula/Natalie/Mikes) it is a food that evokes strong memories and elicits strong feelings that cannot be recreated elsewhere. A mix of swimming, jumping waves and general beach exhaustion under the sun generates a hunger which can only be satiated by the one perfect food. I know I cannot recreate the experience. In fact, I do not fry bake at home and will only pan fry fish. But I have no problem frying up some shark, which is a little different than Banga Mary thanks to green seasoning, making it a decisively Trini dish. I will publish the green seasoning recipe for you both, but that will come later. For now, my take on preparing shark, including the butchery, is based on the original from Caribbean Pot.  His video on the coleslaw is a great accompaniment which appears in the images below.



Green Seasoning 

Green Onion		6 stalks
Bandanya		6 bunches
Garlic		8 cloves
Scotch Bonnet		1 (optional when you have babies)
Lime		1, juiced
Canola Oil		1/4 cup
Black Pepper		1 tbsp (ground)
Sea Salt		1 tbsp (ground)

Breading Flour 

White Flour		1/2 cup
Black Pepper		1 tbsp (ground)
Sea Salt		1 tsp (ground)

Shark

Shark Fillets		6
Canola Oil		for pan frying

Preparation:

1. Buy the fillets or butcher the steaks as shown in the Caribbean Pot video
2. Wash shark in lemon and salt solution, rinse well and pat dry
3. In a food processor, add all ingredients for green seasoning and blend 
4. In a bowl, add green seasoning and shark. My rule of thumb is at least two tablespoons per steak.
5. Let shark marinate for at least two hours, covered
6. Pour breading flour ingredients into a shallow glass dish. Square will work best, because you can shake the four down easily between steaks. Stir until it is well mixed
7. Pour enough oil into a saute pan to pan fry
8. Turn heat up to medium high
9. Test oil with flour. If it fries, it is ready to cook
10. Toss steak in flour and place in pan. Do not touch it once it is down! Let it fry for at least four minutes. With a good pan and the right heat, the steak should come up easily when it is ready to flip. Never force it or you will lose the crust (and worst case, the shark) to the pan.
11. Once flipped, it should take less than the time it took on the first side. check with the tongs to test the give from the pan. It will let you know when it is ready.
12. Remove from the pan and let it drain on a paper towel covered drain rack.
13. If you are going to eat it as a sandwich, make your bakes and fixings, and don't forget the coleslaw.

Shark (peppersauce on top) with coleslaw on the side