Pearl barley, orange and sesame pudding

The mix sounds a bit odd and way too healthy for pudding, but truth to be said, it was delicious…  Not the kind of thing you would expect coming from pearl barley. The orange syrup complemented to perfection the sweetness of the barley and the sesame seeds just added a bit of complexity to it. A total foodie moment, I’d dare to add…

Pearl barley, orange and sesame pudding (adapted from Yotam Ottolengi’s column in The Guardian.)

Ingredients

• ½ tbsp each white and black sesame seeds, toasted (or use 1 tbsp white)
• 1½ tbsp unrefined  sugar
• 125g pearl barley, covered with cold water and soaked overnight
• 750ml whole milk
• ½ vanilla pod, seeds scraped
• Finely grated zest of ½ lemon,
• Finely grated zest of 1 orange
• Salt
• 20g tahini paste

For the orange syrup

• 1 medium orange
• 40g caster sugar
• ¼ tsp orange blossom water

Start with the orange syrup. Shave off a long strip of orange peel, avoiding the pith, and put in a small pan. Trim off top and bottom of the orange, then cut down its sides to remove all the skin and pith. Working over a small bowl to catch any juice, cut out the segments by slicing between the membranes. Add the segments to the bowl and set aside.

Add the caster sugar to the pan with the peel and add 75ml water. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves – this should take less than a minute. Set aside to cool, then add the orange segments and juices, and the orange blossom water.

Roughly crush the sesame seeds in a pestle and mortar with a teaspoon of muscovado sugar, and set aside.

Drain and rinse the barley. Tip it into a medium saucepan with the remaining muscovado sugar, milk, vanilla pod and seeds, citrus zest and an eighth of a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to medium-low and simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally, until the barley is cooked but still has some byte: if it’s becomes very thick, add a little milk towards the end. Leave to cool for five minutes, then remove the vanilla pod and divide between four bowls. Dribble a teaspoon of tahini over each portion, spoon over the orange segments and syrup, sprinkle with sesame and serve.