Catfish and Barley Larb

It's my first week in the From Scratch Book Club cooking from Whole Grains for a New Generation. I've never been in a book club before despite many attempts by friends, but this one is exactly my style. It's online, in a subject I'm interested in, for a book I already own, with just the right amount of people from varied backgrounds and locations. Plus the author of the book has been posting with us! I'm already a big fan of hers from Canning for a New Generation

Last night I made my submission for meeting one ingredient of rice with the catfish and barley larb, but there's actually only a tablespoon of rice in the whole recipe. That tablespoon is toasted and then ground and adds an interesting texture to a very flavorful meal. The one note I'll make on the toasted rice is make sure to grind it pretty fine and to give it a little time in the dressing before serving. I mixed it in almost right before serving and when we first bit in, it was a little hard on the teeth. After 15 minutes it got to a perfect consistency.

The dish itself was extremely easy and the longest step was 40 minutes for the barley. Since this is only added at the end, you can prep and cook everything else during that time. Almost all the ingredients are common and easily available except kaffir leaves. According to the google, there is no substitute for them, so I made a trip to my local Asian grocery, Uwajimaya. I normally wouldn't go out of my way for a single ingredient, but Uwaj also has a great fish, beer, and grain selection, and since the FSC book club's topic for this book is grain, I took a peek and found some interesting variations. Below are just a few I found of barley.

Pressed barley

Organic pearl and dried barley

If you've ever had larb before, you know it has a strong taste of lime and this dish does not disappoint in that area. It is a punch to the mouth with the lime, cilantro, and shallots. I was a little taken aback at first and my lips were a bit tingly (I also put in a lot of red pepper flakes), but the mild barley on the bottom perfectly offsets the strong tang, and you can adjust how strong you want your flavor with how much barley you add. It was definitely a big hit in my house. I've caught my partner sneaking bites from the leftovers in the fridge and oohing at the taste.

Here is a basic run down of the recipe with my edits and without any of Liana Krissoff's lovely prose and recipe variations. You'll have to buy her book to get that :)

1 tbs raw brown rice

1 tsp red pepper

juice of 3 limes

1.5 tbs fish sauce

4 kaffir lime leaves thinly sliced

.25 cup (20g) chopped fresh mint

.5 cup (40g) chopped fresh cilantro

3 shallots, thinly sliced

2 tbs grape seed oil

.80 oz of catfish (or any white fish)

2.5 cups cooked, warm, hulled brown barley

Toast rice until deep brown. Let cool a bit and then process in spice grinder until fine. Mix into bowl with red pepper, lime juice, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves, mint, cilantro, and shallots.

Cook fish in oil over med high heat until gold and crispy and cooked through. Drain on paper towels with any delicious scrapings from pan. After they cool until warm, chop fish up and toss it with crispy bits into dressing. Serve on top of barley.