According to those who have eaten an actual restaurant-cooked risotto, the reviews were mediocre: it did somewhat taste like risotto. The picture above is the barley risotto, although took a much longer time (and gave me some extra white hairs), turned out better than the rice risotto (pictured below).

For one, it did not absorbed all the moisture after cooking (unlike the rice risotto), leaving the dish dry and sticky, instead it remained creamy and moist until the very last grain (although a friend commented it was a tad disgusting eating it cold).

The cooking process was enough to make all our efforts worthwhile. While I was chopping up the garlic, onion and bell peppers, my friends were busy deboning chicken (crying while chopping onions over deboning chicken anytime). How I dislike having sharp pains in my eye while having a sharp knife in my hand aimed really close to my fingers. But I would take that over detaching meat from its bone anytime (oh, the mess it always make!)

Three of us were standing in the kitchen for at least an hour staring at the frying pan while the rice and other ingredients sizzled and adding broth when needed.

Splendid fun, enjoyed every moment of it. What is next?

Recipe I used for the risotto (for barley, we did the same thing as rice, other than substituting it with rice and longer cooking time): http://www.cookuk.co.uk/ethnic/italian/risotto-chicken.htm

Student changes:

• NO saffron for us.
• Chicken stock cube (a regret for me)
• There was no lid big enough to place over the pan to allow the risotto to stand for three minutes, so we used our huge chopping board - it bend inwards. Bad mistake.
• As the wine we bought was diluted and absolutely undrinkable (it was only £2!), we poured all of it into our dish