Oven Baked Barley Peanut Patties

Some time back, I read about the health benefits of barley and got a small packet to try out. The packet was safely put onto the shelf and was conveniently forgot for many days. With days turning weeks, I thought putting it out would remind me to make use of it. It was again ignored every day though it stared at me everytime I was in the kitchen. When the husband's reminders were also of no use, he decided to put it off once for all and that's when I decided to act. Now boiling the barley and drinking the water would have been the best choice and that was my initial plan. After I cooked barley, I tasted it and immediately liked its taste. The little pearls of cooked barley looked very nice too. Instead of throwing off the barley, I thought of putting it to use in some form and that's when I got the idea of preparing patties. Dry roasted peanuts add a nice crunch to the patties and enhances the taste. Adding mint leaves came as an afterthought but made these patties quite flavourful. Usually when I make patties of this kind, I tend to add atleast a boiled potato to bind everything together but with these, that's not necessary. I decided to make it much healthier by baking these patties in the oven. Alternatively, one can cook these on a tawa too.

Recipe

What I used -

• Cooked Barley, 1 cup
• Peanuts, ⅓ cup
• Mint Leaves Chopped, 2 tbsp
• Ginger Garlic Paste, 1 tsp
• Red Chilli Powder, 2 tsp
• Garam Masala Powder, 1 teaspoon (optional)
• Jeera, 1 tsp
• Salt, as required
• Oil, 2 tsp

How I made -

1. Cook barley until soft in a pressure cooker or closed in a thick bottomed vessel.
2. Dry roast peanuts and grind them coarsely along with jeera.
3. Mix together cooked barley, peanut powder, finely chopped mint leaves, ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, garam masala and salt.
4. Take a ball of this mixture and gently pat it between your palms to form a roundel.
5. Preheat oven at 200deg C for about 10mins. Line these patties on a greased baking tray and apply oil on top using a pastry brush.
6. Bake these for about 10 mins on each side at 180deg C. The outside is crunchy and the insides soft.
7. Alternatively, heat a nonstick tawa and sprinkle a teaspoon of oil. Cook these patties in batches for 4 for about 5mins on each side.
8. Serve hot with mayonnaise or tomato ketchup.