Goodness in barley

At home, we would usually take barley as a cooling drink on warm day. Barley is high in fibre and cleanses our kidneys. Eating barley regularly is a preventive step against heart disease as, besides the fibre content, it is also high in niacin, a B vitamin good for lowering cholesterol. Barley is rich in selenium which prevents cancer and relieves symptoms of asthma and arthritis. It is a good source of manganese, copper and phosphorous.

I would usually cook barley together with mung beans and add sago and rock sugar and few pandan leaves (for fragrance). A doctor once recommended that barley should not be over cooked (grains should not breaking up and soup become murky) as all nutrition will be lost. Another variation would be adding fu chook (beancurd skin) and ginkgo nuts to the barley drink.
A friend recently forward a barley soup recipe, haven’t got chance to try the recipe yet. Barley soup with roasted garlic. A nutritious and simple soup that worth trying.

1 cup pearl barley; 5 cloves whole garlic, roasted; 2 litres chicken stock, steeped from 1 chicken breasts simmered in three litres water; 2 tbsps vegetable oil; 2 large onions, diced; 2 carrots, diced; 2 stalks celery, diced

150g turkey ham, cut up; 1 tsp ground white pepper; 1tsps sea salt or to taste; 1 tbsp chopped parsley

Method

1. Wash barley and soak it in a bowl of water for three hours. Drain.

2. Heat oil in pan and fry onions. Add carrots and celery, then the barley and fry for three minutes.

3. Add chicken stock, pepper and roasted garlic and simmer over low heat for at least an hour, or until barley is soft.

4. Add salt to taste and serve the soup garnished with chopped parsley.