Barley Water/ Jau ka Paani.

"Barley Water/ Jau ka Paani with a dash of coarsely crushed Black Pepper (Mire')" ... finally done, had been wanting to try this out for a long time ... Amma (Mom) gave me tips on how Grandma and her Akka (sister) used to do the same ... had this chilled spiced with a dash of pepper and enjoyed it with a few jamba/ white and rose water apple (Jamba/Jambu) to munch on ... Yummilicious ....

** Barley the pearl like looking grain belongs to the grass family and is grown in temperate climates globally. It is believed to be among the first grains to be cultivated and is said to be added on mainly in preparation of breads and beverages in the olden days. Barely water prepared by soaked barley for a few hours is believed to be an excellent source of dietary fiber which helps the digestive system by making it stronger and healthier. Barley is available in forms as hulled, grits, flakes and flour. It is believed to be rice source of manganese and selenium along with good amount of copper, Vitamin B1, chromium, phosphorus, magnesium, and niacin. There are many more that makes it a healthy choice to be added into our diet and the best of all is it is considered to be good for urinary tract. Soaking and sprouting the seeds increase the vitamin, mineral, protein and antioxidant levels of the seeds. I will not run into more details on its composition as there is no point in really doing so, all you need is use google search and you get loads of information on this awesome grain that is one of the best God’s gift to mankind, so I urge you all to introduce this into your food habits and reap in the health benefits, moreover it is very easy to cook and actually has no taste of its own, sort or bland, so blends in well with other dishes too.

** After writing so much about Barley, I am sure all of you will wonder, then how come there is not a single post on barley in my Blog all through these 4 years. Well, isn’t it better late than never. To be frank I myself am using barley for the first time in my life, in my home, in my diet. However, it has made its entry and it is here to stay for good. I myself wonder why I never tried it despite suggestions from so many of my friends. The early days of my marriage, one of my then neighbors had suggested I drink it for my acidity problem, but frankly I did not know much about it and those days was not so keen on such things. I did ask mom and she told me how to prepare the same, but I left it at that and made the biggest blunder of my life by taking solace in antacids. Well, lessons are always learned the hard way, that’s inevitable I guess, but once learnt, it should never ever be forgotten, that is the way I take all things in life, be it for food or regarding relationships or anything else for that matter. So, now I try to include as much as natural ingredients into my daily diet and I assure you my health is far much better than what it was. There are many ingredients in different forms that God has given us on platter in the form of nature, we are the once who foolishly ignore that which is before us and run here and there in search of solutions. Sigh, when we learn.

** Here is my very simple method of preparing "Barley Water/ Jau ka Paani" which I served with a dash of coarsely crushed Black Pepper (Mire')" …

** Wash once and soak 2 tblsp of barely grains/ Jau in 3 cups of pure clean water overnight. Next morning put it in pressure cooker along with soaked in water and pressure cook on medium heat to 3-4 whistles. Let the pressure fall on its own and once it's cooled down, open the lid and remove the cooked barley into a vessel and mix well. The thick barley water is ready for use now.

** Now there are two ways of using it, you can either drain the water and add purified 1 liter of water to it and keep drinking it throughout the day while you use the strained cooked seeds as it is to chew on in salads or any other dishes as desired. 

** The second method is what I did. I put the cooked barley and the water into and blender and ground it to a smooth paste, strained it through a fine sieve, added on 2 liters of water and brought to a boil, it got thickened well, removed added 1 tsp of coarsely crushed pepper powder and kept aside to cool, put it in fridge drank it cold all through the day.

** Note : You can add a dash of kala namak or chat masala or lemon juice to the barley water or any fruit juice too and consume it. The additional spices are unto individual taste. I drank it as it is for health benefit, did not add salt as I have edema problem and barley is suppose to throw out excess water from body, but if you add salt, it does not work as salt withholds water in body, so keep these thoughts in mind while sipping on.

** If you want to consume barley water for health benefits try avoiding addition of salt which is actually not good, but in case you really would like to add on then add only a pinch of the same. Barley water on its own has no particular taste just like nishe/cooked rice water and can be drunk chilled as it is.

** I will soon be preparing different dishes by addition of barley, so keep a keen watch on this space for more healthy dishes. Now that I have come across this lovely pearl like grain, I am all the more charged to find out more dishes with addition of the same. I will be including other healthy kashayam and virshe’, also fruit coolants etc. There is a huge backlog built up which I want to complete by the end of this monsoon season, so lets enjoy them one by one.

** An Earnest Request : There are many more recipes of different types in the blog. For all my Recipes, use the search option or the label section in the Blog. If you are still not able to find it or have a query, please leave a message in comment section or mail me the same. I will try my best to get back to you as soon as possible. Do try out various types of dishes included in the Blog and Enjoy them with your family and friends and do give me a feedback if possible.