Barley Waffles with Orange Salad

Tips from the kitchen

• The 30-minute rest is doing real work here. Barley flour absorbs liquid more slowly than wheat, and if you skip the rest, the batter will be thinner than it should be and the waffles won't hold together properly.
• Add the milk slowly, one third at a time, and stir each addition until smooth before pouring in the next. Barley flour clumps more stubbornly than wheat flour, and rushing this step means lumps that don't cook out.
• Cool the waffles on a wire rack, not a plate. Stacking them or leaving them flat traps steam underneath and turns the bottoms soggy. A rack keeps them crispy on both sides.
• For the orange salad, cut the oranges small, maybe 1 cm cubes. Bigger chunks slide off the waffle and make it awkward to eat. Smaller pieces mix better with the yogurt too.
• The cardamom is strong, so measure it properly. A heaped teaspoon instead of a level one will push the spice flavor to the front and drown out everything else.