Barley risotto
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Delicious and nutritious vegetarian pearl barley risotto with juicy vegetables, tender cheese and herbs! Try it and you won't regret it!
Thought risotto could only be made with rice? It turns out that pearl barley is an excellent alternative to its friend. Only, of course, preparing this dish comes with some difficulties.
Firstly, barley requires a longer cooking time than rice. Secondly, it needs to be pre-soaked, which means the total time for preparing the dish will increase. However, I did not adhere to the last rule and did not soak the cereal for several hours in advance, but only poured boiling water over it right before starting cooking. You can do what I did, or take care of this in advance and soak the pearl barley in warm water overnight or at least for a couple of hours. I do not observe the influence of this procedure on the taste of the dish, however, the time for direct cooking of pearl barley is slightly reduced.
Otherwise, pearl barley risotto is no different from the classic rice. This means that you are free to choose the filling, as well as the choice of broth and spices. By the way, about the broth - it can also be made in advance by boiling chicken or meat, for example. And my dish will be vegetarian: with vegetables, herbs and, of course, cheese. The last one I take is the one I use in my diet. It can be any semi-hard, hard or even soft cheese. Also take seasonal or frozen vegetables, or all at once - in general, as you like. I took the ones that were in the refrigerator, and I liked the result.
So, the ingredients are ready, the cook is ready too, let's start cooking!
Ингредиенты
Pearl barley – 0.5 cups
Onion – 1 pc.
Vegetable oil – 2-3 tbsp.
Carrots – 1 pc.
Zucchini – 1 pc.
Green beans – 60-70 g
Garlic – 3 cloves
Tomato – 1 pc.
Butter – 1 tbsp.
Cheese – 40 g
Salt, pepper - to taste
Dried herbs: basil, celery - to taste
Fresh dill - to taste
Water – 3-4 glasses
Рецепт
1. First, pour boiling water over the pearl barley for 10 minutes.
2. Prepare vegetable broth. Place peeled carrots, garlic and green beans into salted water. Add dried herbs: basil and celery. Stir and cook for about 15 minutes.
3. At this time, finely chop the onion.
4. Place in a heated frying pan with vegetable oil and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.
5. Place the soaked pearl barley in a colander, rinse and place on the onion. Keep on fire for a couple of minutes.
6. After this, pour in the first portion of ready-made vegetable broth, about 1 glass. We begin preparing the barley risotto, constantly stirring the contents of the pan.
7. Since pearl barley requires quite a lot of time to prepare, we will have time to prepare the vegetables. Cut the peeled zucchini into small cubes.
8. Cut the boiled carrots into slices.
9. Remove the skin from the tomato and cut the vegetable into cubes.
10. Grate the cheese on a fine grater.
11. Meanwhile, the pearl barley has already absorbed the broth and swelled. Pour in the next portion and continue cooking. In general, the risotto will use about 3-4 cups of liquid.
12. When the pearl barley is half cooked (after 15 minutes), add chopped and prepared vegetables to the pan: carrots, zucchini, garlic, tomato, green beans.
13. Mix well and carefully.
14. Add another portion of broth and continue cooking, stirring the food periodically (another 20 minutes).
15. At the end of cooking, add butter to the risotto.
16. And also add cheese, ground black pepper and fresh dill.
17. Stir and leave the dish to brew for 10-15 minutes.
18. Barley risotto is ready! Bon appetit!