BARLEY PUDDING- Guest post by the most enterprising Rafeeda.
put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity
and its first chapter is New Year's Day.”
I wish all my readers a very Happy New Year 2016. May this year be filled with joy, prosperity, success, good health and wealth. As usual, I am beginning this year with a sweet post. But this time its my pal who is sharing my space. Though we are virtual friends, we connect very well. She is a super mom of two lovely roses and a doting wife. I am an admirer of her writing style and recipes. Her posts always carry a message relating day to day events that one can always relate to. She is very proficient in presenting simple things very nicely. She pens "The Big Sweet Tooth"- her passion next to home. I always look forward to her posts and needless to say, BST is one of my most favoured on blogosphere. I am very happy to have Sweets (thats how I call her) @ Rafeeda as my guest here. Thank you so much for being here and making this beginning so special. Over to you Rafee...
I am really excited to start this New Year at a
pretty lady’s blog, somebody who is gorgeous by her face as well as in her
mind… J My
friendship with Sowmya, or as she is lovingly called Tuma, started as a mere
accident. Even though I really don’t remember how it all started – my memory
has been talking a terrible downhill for the past few years now! Hehe… - but as
of now, I know that she is a lovely friend that I cherish, definitely one among
the many virtual friendships that I adore! Her blog has some lovely Tam-Brahm
vegetarian delicacies with some simple and straightforward pictures. Tuma was a guest
over my little space while I enjoyed my vacation and
now she felt it was time for me to come over as guest to her place. J
A little introduction about myself – my name is
Rafeeda and I blog at “The Big Sweet Tooth”.
I am a working mother to two lovely girls and cooking is a stress buster for me
after my hectic day life. Just like my blog name indicates, I am a totally
“sweet” person, so you will find all sorts of sweet ideas on the blog! More
than cooking our normal food, I enjoy baking and making desserts whenever I get
some time. I know it is not really good for health always, but I am trying to
make my desserts as healthy as possible, though I am not sure how much
happening that can be!
While wondering what to give her as a guest
post, since it is the beginning of the year, everybody wants a sweet beginning,
isn’t it? Even though I don’t personally believe in, because sweet for me is
for anytime! After checking with her, finally we finalized on the Barley Pudding.
The barley has a story. Barley is like a forgotten grain. Our forefathers used
to use it so regularly in their diets. But since healthy eating is coming back
with full force now much more than before, barley is slowly coming into the
forte because of its natural medicinal effects, especially on digestion – Tuma
is definitely the best person to talk about it!
Being a food blogger, it is a habit for me to
scan through the aisles at the supermarkets for any interesting or new
ingredient that I would love to cook. Having read about barley all over, I was
keen on including it into my family’s diet and picked up a small packet just
for the start. As usual that happens with a lot of my things, I conveniently
forgot about it, only to discover the pack during my cleaning, and that too
just one week into its expiry. I panicked; I just didn’t want to throw it into
the trash. Being a weekend, I immediately emptied it into a bowl and poured
water over it, and started brainstorming as to what to do. Our Friday routine
is always a biriyani, so adding barley was not an option. The other option was
to make a payasam or pudding with it. And that is what finally happened!
Alhamdulillah, it was a big hit. Considering that it is winter in this part of
the world, this barley pudding was definitely a calmer after the spicy lunch.
We had it as dessert for lunch and then polished off the remaining for
breakfast on the next day. Off to this
very simple yet delicious pudding recipe…
Barley Pudding
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
- 200 gm barley
- 500 ml milk
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
- A pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup raw sugar (as required)
- Toasted almonds for topping
Method:
- Wash the barley well. Drain.
- In a pressure cooker, pour water at least three inches over the barley and cook for three whistles on high flame. Allow the pressure to go by itself. Drain the cooked barley of the water and set aside.
- In a saucepan, combine the remaining ingredients, except the almonds and bring it to heat. As the milk starts heating, add the cooked barley and mix well. It may lump but stirring will cause it to break. Cook the mixture till it thickens.
- Using a hand blender, blend till smooth or as you like it. I blend it leaving some bites. Serve warm topped with toasted almonds. It tastes good when cold as well.
Notes:
- Do not discard the drained water from the cooked barley. You can add more warm or cold water, squeeze in some lemon and sweeten with honey to have it like a drink, something that we so colloquially call as “barley vellam” (barley water). This water is known for its calming effects on the intestine. J
- Really simple to make, right? And healthy too! Once again, I thank Tuma for having me around in her lovely space and wish her many many years of successful blogging!
It was indeed a pleasure to be at your space... wish you all the very best everytime... <3
ReplyDeleteHi Sowmya! you have a lovely blog and I adore tam bram food... I hope you have the vathal kozhambu recipe.. will look around. :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you Famidha. I am yet to post the Vathal Kuzhambu. Will do so soon. Happy New Year
DeleteYummy pudding to start the year.Yes, Rafeeda us very sweet, kind and love her versatile blog :)
ReplyDeleteWow its nice to see the post here and sowmya you are so sweet dear.glad to meet you in blogging world.rafee lovely clicks dear and yummy pudding
ReplyDeleteHi sowmya,lovely space...and much lovelier smile.indeed a healthy start to the new year.
ReplyDeleteThank you Nusrath. Happy New Year.
Deleteyummm, bookmarked such a lovely recipe. nice to find your space :) happy new year!!
ReplyDeleteThank you
DeleteLovely pudding to start the year!! Yummy!!
ReplyDeleteLovely guest post Rafeeda and Sowmya! A healthier version of always tempting desert looks sumptuous as well...
ReplyDelete