Literally as simple as putting together peaches and cream this no-bake dessert is one that you will love for its simplicity. Enjoy this popular 90’s restaurant dessert, an under-10-minute dessert that can feed a crowd.

When it comes to any fruit, the simplest way appeals to the lazy me. Mostly it is cut and eaten. Otherwise, do something simple with it like add it to a salad. This is exactly what I plan with the first batch of peaches I have hauled. Once the first two or three peaches satisfy my appetite, I need to determine the future for the rest of them. The dessert that easily comes to my mind is peaches and cream.

Choosing the peaches

That perfectly ripened peach is an absolute must for this dessert as it relies on the lovely flavour of the peaches. Look for the round peaches as the tree-ripened ones tend to go round. Smell them! The aroma of that fruit permeates through the soft skin. Then, gently press them. If the fruit yields gently it is ready and juicy.
For this dessert, you can choose white or yellow peaches. yellow peaches give a classic look, that’s all. Flavour wise they are the same.

How to remove the pit from a peach?

There is a line running along the side of the peach. Cut the peach along this line. Now you have a cut to separate them into two halves. Twist one-half and gently pull it away from the other. That one-half separate. Now, wiggle the seed to loosen it. Pull it away from the other half. Remember not to squeeze the flesh much as the fruit is easily bruised.

Ingredients to make this peach dessert

The basic recipe for peaches and cream needs only 2 ingredients. However, this doesn’t do justice to the popular 90’s restaurant dessert. Hence here is my version
Peaches – Once you have chosen and pitted the peaches, slice them or dice them.
Sugar- unrefined sugar works perfectly fine in this case. It is only to keep the pears juicy while you get on further and prevent excessive browning.
Lemon zest-Thi is a small twist that adds a lot of freshness to the dish. As the cream can be pretty heavy the lemon zest helps to lighten the flavour.
Cream- Pouring cream is ideal in this recipe. We are not looking for soft whipped peaks, so no whipping cream is needed. If you want to cut down a bit the calories, try light cream or low-fat cream.
Vanilla- Scrape out a few bits from a vanilla pod and add to the cream. Without te addition of any sugar this gives the simple dessert a fantastic fragrance. 

Making it healthier

Honestly, this dessert is not for you if you are looking for a healthy dessert. I would rather dunk the fruit in chocolate tofu dip to keep it cleaner and simpler.

Make ahead

This is certainly an easy dessert to put together for a crowd. However, you cannot prepare and assemble this dish much in advance. Here is what you can do the previous day.

Prep the glasses ahead.

Cut the peaches, and mix in the sugar and zest. Keep them covered in the fridge.

Whip the cream with vanilla, slightly so you have a pouring consistency. Keep this covered in the fridge.

Once these are set it is as simple as spooning the fruit and cream into the individual glasses.

What other fruit can I try with the cream?

Given an opportunity, I wouldn’t hesitate to make the cream combo with strawberries, mango, grapes, bananas, melons etc. You can also mix a combination of fruits in this vanilla cream.

Stay connected

Hope you have a collection of recipes like this that hardly takes a few minutes but satisfies a crowd really well. In our attempt, the fruit salad with honey dressing and the peaches with cream are my top picks to share on a barbeque day. Let us know in the comments how we are doing with this blog. As usual, leave us a rating on the start system with 5 stars if you like this recipe. Don’t forget to subscribe or connect with us through Instagram or Facebook.

For now, enjoy the sun and the sunny peach season.

It hunted us down again!! We are set for another session of home iso, with lots of liquids and panadol. Coming to the rescue this time is barley water soup. It certainly caters for lots of liquids part providing just that nourishment during the time when the throat is sore.

What is barley water?

The strained liquid that results from cooking pearled barley in excess of water is barley water. This is an easily digestible refreshing source of hydration. Barley water is commonly consumed in humid Asian countries to beat the heat. It is also recommended to get relief from kidney stones, urinary tract infections and remove liver toxicity.

Which type of barley to use?

The barley grain is processed in stages. Based on how they are processed it is used in different cuisines.
Unhulled:  the whole barley grain, just cleaned and chaffed unhulled barley. To use this, you need to soak it for 24 hours to soften.
Pearled: the polished barley where the hull and the outer layer of the bran have been removed is pearled barley. This is easier to cook with no soaking needed.
I have used pearl barley to make barley water with a ratio of 1 part barley to 6 parts water.

Ingredients for this barley water soup

The barley water soup is a refreshing idea that I can up with as I am not a fan of lemon barley and needed to keep up the liquids for the iso.
Vegetables:  quick cooking vegetables that you can easily put together make this soup’s flavour. I have used leeks, capsicum, spinach stalks and carrots here. You can add celery, shallots, cabbage, potatoes, swedes etc too to this soup.
Spices and seasoning:  salt and pepper is the only seasoning I have used here. Ginger would be nice in here too.
Barley water: the barley water was prepared using one part barley to 6 parts water. We used the barley to make a salad and the water to make soup.
The recipe card below has the images and step-by-step instructions to get the best-tasting barley water soup. hope you will like it. If you need to pin this for future use, do so directly onto your pin board from this recipe card.

What to serve with barley water soup?

Crusty bread at this moment when I have zero energy would do. If you feel lavish ghee croutons are what you should have with this. If you are a south Indian food lover, keep some vadam and vattal on the size as this soup will remind you of kanji a lot.

Other soups for the flu season

Flu busting soup   
Cabbage coconut soup
Corn quinoa soup
Broccoli peas soup
Cherry tomato soup

Barley water usage in other countries.

Roasted barley tea is a popular drink in Japanese culture. It is a robust flavour as the barley is dark roasted which is then steeped as tea.
Greek kykeon pounded barley (not powder) is cooked in excess of water and flavoured with penny royal. This is the post that I loved reading about this recipe.
Lemon barley is the British version of this drink, where there is a bit of lemon squeezed into the barley water to give it flavour. This is still recommended by doctors towards urinary tract infections.

Other grains are similarly used.

Kanji vellam the water drained from cooking matta rice in excess water is called kanji vellum. This is a household mid-morning drink in most south Indian houses (especially Kerala).  A pinch of salt is added and consumed warm. It functions like a light soup.
Soba soup while visiting Japan, a friend of mine introduced me to this. Freshly made soba noodles are cooked in water. The water gets thickened by the buckwheat and is then served as soup with some wasabi and bonito flakes. This was one of the most refreshing things to experience in Japanese cuisine without any hype attached to it.

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