I Tried Making Pelau with Pearl Barley and Can't Stop Eating It
What set out as an experiment to prove that Pearl Barley can be used to make our national dish (that's pelau, in case you didn't know) actually turned out to be an "aha" moment. Instead of it being "pelau" or "pearl-au", what we actually made was a RISOTTO.
We knew the flavour of the pelau will hit all the right notes because we started with a good foundation - browning the sugar until it became frothy with swirls of dark and light brown caramel, adding well seasoned chicken, all of the usual aromatics - garlic, ginger, thyme, chives etc, butter of course for that extra lux and bay leaf. The barley was rinsed to remove excess starch and cooked briefly with the chicken before adding the peas and the coconut milk, which is a MUST when making pelau.
We were hoping for a medium pelau - not too wet, not too dry—but what we got was a surprise. Imagine sinking your teeth into your first spoonful (or forkful, if you are so inclined) but being greeted with a creaminess and smoothness that not even a wet pelau could achieve. That's what we didn't bargain for: the barley took on a smooth, creamy consistency that tricked our brains into thinking we were eating a risotto but the flavour was pelau...like WHAT?!
Each bite got better and better because no one has ever described pelau as creamy, but this one was, and it was addictive.
When doing a cooking experiment, the are three possible outcomes - whether the result meets, exceeds, or fails to meet expectations. Similar to scientific experiments, cooking experiments involve creating a hypothesis and observing the results.
Failure: The dish failed to meet expectations—for example, being burnt, undercooked, having a poor texture or simply not working.
Success/Validation: The dish turned out as expected—which, at the time was a given, at least to us.
Discovery/Unexpected Result: The dish differs from expected but remains usable or enjoyable.
In our case, we were on a road to Discovery and didn't realize it because the dish was not just usable or enjoyable, but groundbreaking. We will never look at barley the same again and neither pelau LOL!
#barley #pelau #barleyrecipe
▼Chicken Pelau Recipe:
https://eatahfoodtt.com/mmhmm/chicken-pelau/
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Published Apr 30, 2026
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