Almond-Barley Porridge with Fruit

So pleasant and feels so light in the mouth. Very mild. Very cloud like for a porridge. Definitely making this next time I have the girls over for brunch

• Lorz

• Winnipeg

• 3/26/2022

Wow, I can't believe noone has rated this recipe yet. People are missing out. Makes for a lovely, hearty breakfast on cold winter mornings. Though I still make it even though it's turned into summer here. I've changed around so many details in this recipe, and it comes out tasty every time. Even when I scorched the milk a little, it still tasted pretty decent. First time I made it I used hull-less whole grain barley. I even cooked it in my pressure cooker. I used only three cups since none of the water would steam away. It came out a little soupy, but was close to being good. The milk also curdled. Figured out the hard way that always happens with milk in pressure cookers. But also found out that a quick run through the blender, and the curdles were all gone and smoothed out without breaking the whole barley into bits. I did eventually try rolled whole grain barley and cooked it on the stove instead of the pressure cooker. This worked the best as it created a lovely oatmeal like texture (oatmeal made from rolled oats). Go figure that my grocery store discontinued this form of barley just as I discovered it and started to use it. I guess it's time to try pearled barley, as the recipe originally calls for. No idea what cloudberries are. Used sweet dried cherries. Worked wonderfully. I also tried sour cherries for the compote and I didn't like it as much, but maybe that's just me. I also tried dried apricots once and I won't do them again. Could taste too many of the bitter flavors in the apricots. The barley and dairy didn't cover these flavors. But maybe my apricots weren't that great in the first place. And do make note where the recipe says to cool off the porridge before gently folding in the whipped cream. My cream went flat when I added it to the hot porridge. Adding it to cooled porridge made a world of difference. The already nice oatmeal like texture turned even lighter and fluffier and lovelier. I used sucralose (Splenda) each time I made this recipe. Worked well. I also didn't add any white chocolate as I wanted this to be more of a breakfast food than a dessert like food. So still great despite no white chocolate. Still working to see if I can make this recipe using my pressure cooker. (So far the stove is by far the best.) Cooking the barley in milk on high pressure for 40min caused the milk to taste slightly scorched, and didn't make the hull-less barley any softer and definitely not any closer to rolled oats oatmeal like. I did read in an America's Test Kitchen barley risotto recipe that you should crack a small portion of the hull-less barley in a blender so that its starches can come out and make the risotto creamier. Will have to try this technique next time. Reheating the barley in the microwave after adding the whipped cream did deflate the cream some, but not too bad. And that's it for all the details I can give you.

• Anonymous

• Dallas, TX

• 6/26/2017