Uses for barley?

[Deleted User]

Thanks you all for the advice, i'll feel the slow cooker coming out again!

bluenose1

I went to a vegetarian buffet with work and they had pearl barley served on its own on a big platter with very thinly diced red chillis.
I just tasted it to be nosy expecting it to be boring. It was actually very tasty. Also very nutritious.
Regards
Anne

lady_lucan

Scotch broth...my favourite.

sellparttime

I steam it like rice and serve it with roast leg of lamb and gravy.......

Allexie

In a restaurant recently I had a mushroom risotto made with pearl barley instead of the usual risotto rice and it was yummy. Just had a look for a recipe and found this on the vegweb.com site:

Easy Barley Risotto

Ingredients

• 35-50g pearl barley per person (big eaters use 50g)
• 600ml vegetable stock (or concentrate and water)
• bay leaf
• small pumpkin or medium butternut or 2-3 sweet potatoes or something that mashes well
• knob vegan margarine or 1 tablespoon oil for mashing (e.g. pumpkin seed oil)
• variations:
• add a chopped carrot to the stock
• add cooked spinach or baby leaf spinach just before stirring in the mashed vegetable
• add sautéed mushrooms
• add garlic
• add whatever you have in the fridge or store cupboard
• throw in some seeds e.g. pumpkin, sunflower, pine nuts etc

Directions:



Wash the barley and put into a large non-stick pan with the bay leaf and the stock. Cover and bring to the boil, then reduce heat, and simmer uncovered for approx 35-40 mins, stirring occasionally, until the barley is swollen and the stock is absorbed. While the barley is cooking, peel your vegetable of choice, and cut into small cubes. Steam (or boil) until quite tender, then mash or puree with the vegan margarine/oil. Remove the bay leaf and stir the mashed vegetable into the barley. If adding mushrooms put them in now and you will get a delicious mixture of flavours. Eat while hot (but it tastes great cold the next day.)

This is a really cheap and filling dish and can be adapted endlessly. It takes no time to get on the go, and you can happily leave it to cook, unlike all the stirring in a normal rice risotto. It can also be quite nutritious, barley is a good alternative to too much wheat, and if you use pumpkin seed oil, you're looking after your essential fatty acid intake too.

Serves: 2-3 Preparation time: 45 mins cooking

squeaky

Can you add this to the Recipe Collection please so it gets indexed properly?

Allexie

squeaky wrote:

Can you add this to the Recipe Collection please so it gets indexed properly?

Blinking 'eck squeaks...it's grown and got a bit complicated since I last looked...took me ages to find and I'm not sure if I've put it in the right place now

squeaky

Allexie wrote:

Blinking 'eck squeaks...it's grown and got a bit complicated since I last looked...took me ages to find and I'm not sure if I've put it in the right place now

Yes you have, and I'll be working on simplifying things again once I've caught up with the MEGA Index. And I'm going to pinch those smilies

I've said thank you over there

Swan_2

barley makes a very nice milk pudding, same method as you'd use for rice pudding ... delicious in my opinion, but then I'm a total barley freak

streetgirl74

I have got a cassarole in my slow cook and its a bit runny, is it to late to put some pearl barley in (its being dished at 5.30pm) or should i just put some cornflower mixed with water in ?