Siemieniotka with pearl barley

Pick over the seeds, removing any debris. Put them in a bowl, cover with the 1 l cool soaking water and leave for 2 hours. Drain in a strainer and discard the water. Use whole seeds with their hulls; hulled seeds and flax seeds will not make the same soup.

Pour the first 1 l portion of cooking water into a pot holding about 3 l. Add the soaked seeds, bring to a boil and simmer gently for 20 minutes with the lid ajar. Drain and discard all the cooking liquid. Repeat with the second 1 l portion of fresh water and another 20 minutes of cooking; discard that liquid too. Add the third 1 l portion of water and simmer gently with the lid ajar for about 80–100 minutes. The seeds should swell, some hulls should begin to split, and a few seeds crushed with a spoon should form a pale, soft pulp. If they are still hard, cook longer. As water evaporates, add small amounts from the reserve of up to 500 ml, shared across all the cooking baths, to keep the seeds submerged. Do not keep any of these cooking liquids for the soup.

Toward the end of cooking the hemp seeds, bring 400 ml of the water for the barley and 3 g salt to a boil in a small pot. Add the dry barley, stir and cook covered over very low heat for about 20–25 minutes, until tender and the water is absorbed. If the barley is still hard and the pot is dry, add as much of the reserved 50 ml water as needed and cook for a few more minutes. Remove from the heat and leave covered for 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Do not drain the barley; any unused reserve water does not go into the dish. Keep the barley covered until serving.

Drain the soft seeds, discarding the last cooking water too. Spread them in a wide bowl and cool for about 15 minutes, until warm and comfortable to work with. Heat the 1.2 l fresh extraction water until clearly warm but not boiling, and divide into 3 portions of 400 ml. Crush the seeds in small batches in a sturdy bowl or earthenware grinding bowl with a wooden pestle, adding water little by little from the first portion. Crush the hulls and seed interiors into a wet, coarse pulp; do not simply stir the whole seeds.

Rest a sturdy, fine-mesh metal strainer securely over a clean pot. Add the pulp in batches, pour over the rest of the first 400 ml warm water, and rub and press thoroughly with a wooden pestle. Pale, opaque liquid should run into the pot. Return the contents of the strainer to the bowl, crush again and rinse in the same way with the second 400 ml portion of water. Repeat with the third 400 ml portion. Combine all the milky filtrates and strain once more through a fine strainer to remove hard hull fragments. Discard all the pulp and hulls left in the strainer. Do not add them to the soup. The amount of liquid obtained depends on the seeds and how thoroughly they are pressed.

Put the whole peeled onion into the milky extract. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook over low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring along the bottom. Remove and discard the onion. Add 5 g salt, the sugar and ground pepper. Lower the heat, pour in all the sweet cream and heat for another 2–3 minutes, stirring, without boiling vigorously. The soup should stay fluid, lightly creamy and without hulls. Divide all the barley among 4 bowls, ladle over the hot soup and serve immediately.