Barley And Custard Apple Cream With A Touch Of Mandarin

Days are approaching with dinners and meals with friends, family, co-workers … in which we want to surprise with recipes that are both rich, nutritious and easy to prepare. For desserts we have a great allies in seasonal fruits.

We propose you this dessert with a surprising main food, the custard apple. This winter fruit is rich in vitamin C, and has a mild tropical flavor, halfway between pineapple and banana.

We usually consume custard apple for dessert, with a spoon, but we rarely incorporate it into our recipes. In this cream it is combined with a cereal, barley, which does not cover its flavor and with which it combines very well. As creamy as a rice pudding, but with the tropical flavor of its protagonist.

It is cooked in a similar way to rice pudding, with cinnamon and the zest of a citrus fruit, in this case mandarin. But vegetable milk is used and the custard apple is incorporated raw and is not cooked, so that it does not lose flavor or properties. You can take it freshly made, still warm, or let it cool.

Ingredients for 4 people

• 6 tablespoons of barley (best pearl)
• 1 liter of soy milk, oatmeal or any other vegetable milk
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar or whole grain sugar
• 2 tangerines, some segments and zest
• 2 ripe custard apples
• Cinnamon powder

Preparation (15 minutes + 40 minutes of cooking)

1. If the barley is not pearly, it is advisable to soak it the night before, as it costs more to cook.
2. In a saucepan, add the milk, sugar and zest of a tangerine to the barley.
3. Cook the mixture covered and at low heat for at least 40 minutes. If in that time it stays dry, you can add water. Stir gently from time to time to help thicken.
4. Empty the custard apples with a spoon and pass them through the Chinese or a coarse strainer to easily remove the seeds.
5. Grind the custard apples with half of the thick cooked barley to obtain a homogeneous cream.
6. Then mix with the other half of the barley and distribute into the cups.
7. Let cool and decorate with a wedge of mandarin, a little cinnamon and whatever the taste dictates: some syrup to sweeten, pistachios, etc.
8. You can consume it warm or cold.

Nutritional note

A serving of this dessert provides 338 calories, 66g of carbohydrates, 8g of protein and 5g of fat.