Barley drink

Alicia suddenly had a slight fever last night of 37.7deg... got us worried... we quickly fed her paracetamol and tucked her to bed. Fortunately the fever didn't return...

Anyway, I thought she might be a little heaty so I decided to boil this barley drink and she had about 100-150ml of it.

Barley drink

Ingredients:

• 4 handfuls Chinese barley (生熟薏米, also known as 薏米仁 or苡仁)
• 1 handful deng xin cao (灯心草) - omit this if pregnant as it helps with urination - something that pregnant women don't need :)
• 1-2 handfuls candied wintermelon (冬瓜糖)
• about 1.5-2L water

Method:

1. Rinse the herbs.
2. Add the herbs to the water in a pot and bring to a boil.
3. Simmer on low heat for 1.5 - 2.5hours.
4. Sieve and remove the herbs.
5. Serve warm or chilled.

Here's a pic of deng xin cao - it's supposed to have 'cooling' properties as well: