My epic with the fermentation continues. After mastering the sour dough bread, and seeing how degraded gluten becomes harmless to me, I decided to try to ferment one of my favourite grains – Perl Barley. I have an old recipe for the Barley Risotto on this blog where I went into details about the health benefits of Perl Barley. However, I couldn’t cook it often due to a gluten.
I have to say that fermented Perl Barley tastes amazing, it also has a special texture and it is not as sticky anymore.

Fermented Barley Risotto
Ingredients:
Fermentation:
500 g pearl barley
1 cup boiled warm water
1 tsp sour dough
Risotto:
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
2 cup vegetable stock
1 red capsicum pepper
1 red green pepper
1 yellow
1/2 cup roasted hazelnuts
1/4 cup dried barberry, alternatively blueberry, or goji berries
50 g Ghee (or vegan butter)
Salt and pepper
Sauce:
350g pumpkin
1 cup vegan milk, barista style
Optional:
1/2 tsp cloves, fresh parsley for garnishing
*a deep pan with lid
Method:
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About 3-4 days before the risotto to be served, soak barley in the water and leave it on the bench for a day or overnight.
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The next day, wash the barley and place it in a glass container. Combine the sour dough and the warm water, then add it to the container with the barley. Cover and leave it in the room for about 3 days. You can give it a mix once a day.
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On the day of cooking the risotto, clean the peppers from the seeds. Coarsely cut.
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Wash barley in the sieve and let it drain. Put the pan on the medium heat, add oil, garlic and onion and sauté for a few minutes.
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Add barley and stock – one cup at a time, also cloves if using. Cook until tender.
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Cut pumpkin into small pieces, add water to just cover pumpkin and cook until ready. Process with blender until smooth and add milk. It will look like a pumpkin soup.
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Add berries and peppers, cook for ten minutes regularly mixing. If needed, add a little water or stock.
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Cut hazelnuts into quarters and halves. Add nuts and pumpkin sauce to the risotto , mix well and in a minute the risotto is ready to be served. Can be garnished with chopped fresh parsley if desired.
Copyright © MagicTableCloth
What a nice idea, I’ve never heard of doing this!
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