Barley Risotto

When G mentioned he saw a recipe for barley risotto, I pooh-poohed the idea. Barley? That's something we boil into a drink when you have a sore throat in Singapore. Making it into a savoury dish in place of rice? Really?

G persisted and made me get a packet of barley the next time we were in the supermarket and proceeded to make a mushroom risotto one weekend. He makes a great mushroom risotto with the regular Arborio rice. So I waited to see what the end result would be.

Verdict: delicious, and it's going on our list. In fact it was so yummy, I took the leftovers to work in my new bento box. Everyone who saw me in the pantry asked me what I was eating, made comments about how small the portion was (it really wasn't even if it looked small because it was a double-decker box and totalled 500 ml of food in the 2 boxes) and most people made unfavourable remarks when they heard the word barley with risotto except for one more enlightened guy. Well all I can say is don't knock it till you've tried it!