How much water is needed for a glass of pearl barley? How long do you need to cook pearl barley to retain all the vitamins? Other methods for preparing pearl barley

Properly prepared delicious pearl barley porridge can conquer many gourmets, even despite the not-so-popularity of porridges made from this cereal, so let’s look in more detail at how to deliciously cook barley as a side dish and for soup, and how long to cook pearl barley in water so that it is crumbly and tasty, whether it needs to be soaked and in what proportion to mix it with water when cooking.

The ratio of pearl barley and water during cooking (proportions of pearl barley and water during cooking)

Before you learn how to deliciously prepare pearl barley as a side dish, you need to know the exact proportions of liquid and cereal when preparing this porridge:

  • The ratio of pearl barley and water when cooking viscous porridge= 1 cup pearl barley + 4 cups water.
  • The ratio of pearl barley and water when cooking crumbly porridge= 1 cup pearl barley + 2.5 cups water.

How long to cook pearl barley

On average, the cooking time for pearl barley ranges from 50 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on the quality of the pearl barley, the method of cooking it and the desired consistency of the pearl barley porridge in the end:

  • How long to cook pearl barley without soaking? Without pre-soaking, barley is cooked for at least 60 minutes.
  • How long to cook pearl barley with soaking? After soaking, pearl barley is cooked for at least 50 minutes.
  • How long to cook barley for pickle (how long to cook barley in soup)? In the soup, pearl barley should be boiled for 1 hour, while the barley should first be soaked for 2-3 hours in water. It is possible to add pre-cooked pearl barley to the soup (after adding, for example, rassolnik to the soup, it needs to be cooked for 10-15 minutes).
  • How long to cook pearl barley in a slow cooker? In a slow cooker, pearl barley is cooked for 50 to 70 minutes (after 50 minutes of cooking, you should check the porridge every 5 minutes for readiness).
  • How many minutes to cook pearl barley in bags? Cook pearl barley in bags for an average of 45-50 minutes until fully cooked.

How to cook pearl barley porridge in water in a saucepan?

The most common way to prepare pearl barley porridge is to cook it in a saucepan on the stove, since not every housewife may have a double boiler or a slow cooker, but the methods given below are widely known and have been popular for many years.

How to quickly cook pearl barley in water without soaking it in a pan?

  1. We measure out a glass of pearl barley and rinse the cereal with cold water, then pour it into a pan and fill it with water so that it completely covers the cereal and the water level is 1-2 cm higher
  2. Bring the barley with water to a boil, cook for 5 minutes and drain all the water, then add the required amount of water (the proportions are higher in the article) and bring to a boil again.
  3. Add salt to taste and cook the pearl barley over low heat, covering it with a lid (leaving a small gap for steam to escape) for at least 50 minutes, making sure that all the water has boiled away.
  4. When the water has boiled away and the porridge is ready, if desired, you can add a piece of butter, set the pan off the heat and let the porridge sit for 10-15 minutes under the lid (you can also wrap the pan in a towel).

This method falls into the category of how to quickly cook pearl barley, since you do not need to spend a lot of time pre-soaking pearl barley.

In the same way, pearl barley is cooked in bags, which also does not need to be soaked in advance (it already comes prepared for cooking).

How to properly cook pearl barley in water with pre-soaking

  • Ingredients: pearl barley - 1 cup, water - 3 cups, salt - a pinch (to taste).
  • Total cooking time: 4 hours, preparation time: 3 hours, cooking time: 1 hour.
  • Calorie content: 129 calories (per 100 grams of product).
  • Cuisine: Slavic. Type of dish: side dish. Number of servings: 2.
  1. We prepare pearl barley in advance by rinsing it with cold water, then pouring it with water and leaving it to steep for 3-4 hours before cooking.
  2. We drain the water in which the pearl barley was infused and rinse it again with plain water, after which we pour it into the selected pan.
  3. Fill the cereal with the required amount of water (the ratios of water and pearl barley for cooking crumbly and viscous porridge are described at the beginning of the article). Add salt to taste.
  4. Bring the pearl barley to a boil, reduce the heat to a minimum and cook for 50-60 minutes (until the water boils away).
  5. Remove the pan from the stove, add a piece of butter if desired and leave the finished pearl barley porridge to steep under the lid in the pan for 10 minutes.

Note: soaking pearl barley in water for a long time will not harm the cereal and will even be beneficial when cooking porridge, so some housewives leave the cereal to soak in water overnight, after which they cook pearl barley porridge in the morning as a side dish or for soup.

How to cook pearl barley in a slow cooker?

  1. Before cooking pearl barley in a slow cooker, the cereal should be prepared in advance for cooking: rinse with cold water several times, then leave the barley to soak in water for at least 3 hours.
  2. After soaking, rinse the cereal again with plain water and place it in a multicooker, which can be pre-lubricated with butter.
  3. Add pre-salted water to the multicooker in the proportion: 3 cups of water to 1 cup of pearl barley.
  4. Turn on the multicooker to the “Porridge” mode and leave the pearl barley to cook for 1 hour.
  5. When the pearl barley porridge is cooked, you can additionally add a piece of butter to it and leave it in the multicooker in the “Warming” mode for 10 minutes.

Answers to popular questions that will help you cook pearl barley correctly

  • Do I need to soak pearl barley before cooking? It is advisable, but not necessary, to soak pearl barley before cooking (it depends on the cooking method you choose, but it is always better to soak pearl barley before cooking so that the porridge is tasty and crumbly).
  • How many times does pearl barley expand when cooked? During the cooking process, pearl barley increases 5 times, so you need to take this into account in advance and choose a pan with a reserve.
  • When to salt pearl barley during cooking? Depending on the chosen cooking method, salt is added at different times, but in most cases at the beginning of cooking (after the water boils).
  • How to cook friable pearl barley? To cook crumbly pearl barley, you need to pre-soak it and also cook it with a small amount of water so that it does not have time to boil.
  • Do I need to rinse pearl barley after cooking? There is no need to rinse the pearl barley after cooking.

In conclusion to the article, it can be noted that the tips listed in the article on how to cook pearl barley porridge as a side dish, as well as how to cook pearl barley in water in a slow cooker or saucepan, will be useful to all lovers of this healthy barley cereal. It is also important to know not only the entire sequence of cooking pearl barley, but also not to forget how many minutes to cook pearl barley, as well as whether it needs to be soaked and why, what proportions of water and barley to use for the best result. We leave our tips and reviews on how to cook pearl barley porridge in water so that it is tasty and crumbly in the comments to the article and share it on social networks if it was useful to you.

Barley, like most very healthy products, is quite capricious in terms of preparation. Not only will you have to accurately guess the proportions of ingredients for porridge or soup, you also need to not miss the time when it’s time to turn off the dish with cereal. After all, the result of your culinary efforts depends on how long the pearl barley is cooked.

The inconspicuous grayish pearl barley grains hold the record for the amount of fiber. Regular consumption of such cereals will ensure the well-coordinated functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as:

  • will support the immune system due to the presence of vitamins and minerals;
  • will lower blood sugar levels due to the presence of polysaccharides in pearl barley;
  • stabilizes weight, since the dishes turn out to be very satisfying, which means you don’t have to supplement your porridge or soup with high-calorie foods.

Pearl barley porridge is a universal side dish for meat, fish, and even vegetables. And soups with the addition of cereals acquire completely unique flavors and aroma. The only important thing is to learn how to cook all this skillfully.

How long does pearl barley cook without soaking?

To prepare delicious pearl barley porridge or soup, you need to properly prepare the cereal. This is precisely the main “inconvenience” of a useful product. Ideally, barley should be soaked for 12-15 hours. However, with the modern rhythm of life, housewives do not want to devote all their free time to pots. Therefore, recipes are being developed experimentally to shorten the preparatory stage of preparing pearl barley. It consists of the following procedures:

  1. We sort through the grains, discarding any unopened grains.
  2. Fill the pearl barley with water and let it stand for 1-2 minutes.
  3. Grind the grains well with your hands - the husks will come off the grains, which, among other things, will shorten the cooking time.
  4. Pour cold water into the cereal again and leave for 15 minutes.

After this you can start cooking. Just keep in mind that different kitchen appliances will require different times. So, for example, porridge is cooked in a saucepan at a ratio of cereal and water of 1:2 for 1.5 hours. In a multicooker, the cooking time will be even a little longer - 2 hours in the “Grain” or “Buckwheat” mode. But a double boiler is the fastest way to cook pearl barley without soaking - 35 minutes. For comparison: if you still prefer the classic recipe for pearl barley porridge and leave the cereal in water overnight, then it will cook in a saucepan in 40-50 minutes, in a slow cooker or double boiler - in 30.

How to cook pearl barley in soup?

Pearl barley adds exquisite tenderness and softness to soups - but provided that you have the patience to finish cooking this ingredient. If you are preparing soup in a saucepan, and the pearl barley has not been soaked overnight, you will have to cook the liquid dish for about 1-1.5 hours. But after the pearl barley has been in cold water for several hours, the soup can be cooked in 40 minutes. By the way, some chefs advise using already cooked cereals for soup. So, firstly, you can deliciously transform porridge cooked the day before. And secondly, it will only take you 15-20 minutes to prepare a delicious soup.

Those who like to cook in a slow cooker will cook pearl barley soup without pre-soaking in 45-50 minutes. If the pearl barley was prepared according to all the rules, then it will take half as much time to prepare the dish.

Secrets of delicious pickle with barley

Even those who are not particularly fond of barley in the form of porridge are pleasantly surprised by the taste that the barley gives to pickle. But there are several tricks here, again related to the preparation of the cereal product. If it is not possible to soak the cereal for several hours, then it will have to be boiled twice.

  1. We wash the cereal with running water.
  2. Pour into a saucepan and pour water twice as much as the amount of cereal.
  3. After boiling, place the pearl barley in a colander.
  4. Fill the grains with cold water again, but only pour it 3 times more than the grain.
  5. Cook for 50-60 minutes. After this, you can add pearl barley to the pickle.

Thus, you can cook the soup itself in 40-45 minutes, and in a slow cooker in half an hour.

Pearl barley has received little attention, although it has a lot of useful properties and is quite tasty if prepared correctly. And all because it takes a very long time to cook, and not everyone knows how long to cook pearl barley. When cooking porridge, you need to pay attention to the amount of water and the cooking time. So, for lovers of crumbly porridge, you will need to take 2 glasses of water per glass of cereal, and for those who prefer viscous porridge, you will need a liter of water for the same glass of cereal. But let’s talk in more detail about how long to cook pearl barley.

How long should you cook pearl barley?

Cooking time depends on factors such as:

  • Cereals are prepared with or without soaking;
  • Grain size;
  • Pearl barley variety;
  • Duration of storage – shelf-stable cereals will take longer to cook.

On average, pearl barley for porridge will take about 1.5 hours to cook without soaking. Well, pre-soaking will reduce the cooking time by 30 minutes. In addition, steamed cereals are sold on store shelves, which cook even faster.

How to cook pearl barley in a slow cooker, microwave and double boiler?

Since progress does not stand still, many housewives have already stocked up on miracle technology that makes life easier:

  • In a multicooker, barley cooks perfectly in the “Porridge” mode; it will take about 2 hours. Water should be taken three times more than the volume of cereal;
  • In a double boiler, pearl barley will retain most of the vitamins and minerals, but cooking will also take a lot of time - about 2-2.5 hours;
  • The microwave oven offers the fastest cooking method; here the pearl barley will be cooked in 30-40 minutes. However, during cooking you will need to stir the grains so that all the grains are cooked evenly.

Pearl barley, which is barley grains processed in a special way, is a tasty and healthy cereal. Pearl barley porridge, rassolnik and many other interesting dishes are prepared from it.

This product has only one drawback - barley takes quite a long time to prepare. But if you cook the cereal without soaking, which is also acceptable, you will be able to cook it much faster.

How long to cook pearl barley without soaking

It is recommended to cook pearl barley for 50-90 minutes without soaking. The exact time depends on its age and variety. It is easy to determine the readiness of the product - it should be swollen, soft, but not mushy.

Step-by-step instructions for cooking pearl barley without soaking

  1. Sort the grains and rinse thoroughly.
  2. Pour 3 cups of water into a saucepan and put on fire.
  3. After boiling, pour 1 cup of pearl barley into it. Boil it over high heat for 2-3 minutes.
  4. Drain the liquid and fill the product with fresh water (also 3 cups).
  5. When the water boils, reduce the heat level and cook for 50 minutes. Check readiness.
  6. Drain off excess water. Add the oil, stir and let stand for up to 10 minutes. with the lid closed.

One of the main secrets of properly prepared pearl barley porridge is thorough washing of the cereal. It is advisable to add water several times during the process. When washing, you can rub the cereals between your fingers, so the husks will come off, and the porridge will turn out crumbly.

If you want to prepare crumbly porridge, you need to take 1 full glass of cereal for 2.5-3 glasses of liquid. For those who like viscous porridge, you need to take 1 liter of water for the same amount of pearl barley.

Cooking time depends on when the grain was grown. The longer it is stored, the longer it will have to be cooked.

Simple recipes for dishes with barley

You can make a healthy, satisfying and tasty porridge from pearl barley. This dish goes well with vegetables, mushrooms, different types of meat, and spicy sauces. But this is not all that is usually prepared from pearl barley.

Pearl barley pilaf

To prepare pilaf you need to stock up on the following products: 500 g pearl barley, 500 g bacon, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 250 g fatty butter, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, spices.

Cooking process:

  1. Boil the meat until done. Save the broth.
  2. Fry chopped bacon with chopped vegetables in a thick-walled bowl (cauldron or saucepan).
  3. Add tomato paste and spices there. Mix.
  4. Pour in the broth.
  5. Boil pearl barley until half cooked. Then spread the porridge in an even layer in a saucepan with the rest of the ingredients. Cook until the broth has reduced to the level of the grains.
  6. Cover tightly, then place in preheated oven for 50 minutes.

Rassolnik with pearl barley

For this recipe you will need the following ingredients: 300 grams of beef, 50 g of pearl barley, 250 g of potatoes, 100 g of pickles, 0.5 cups of cucumber pickle, 1 onion, 150 g of carrots, bay leaf, 2 tbsp. spoons of sunflower oil, peppercorns, salt.

Cooking process:

  1. Wash the pearl barley and boil it until half cooked.
  2. Fill a 3-liter saucepan with water, place the meat in it and cook for an hour.
  3. Remove the beef, cool, and divide into pieces.
  4. Add pearl barley to the broth and cook for half an hour.
  5. Peel and cut the potatoes into cubes. Add to soup.
  6. Peel and chop carrots and onions. First fry the onion in oil, then add the carrots.
  7. Cut the cucumbers into thin shavings. In a separate frying pan, simmer them with the addition of three tablespoons of broth.
  8. Transfer the onions, carrots and cucumbers to the broth. Pour out the brine.
  9. After boiling, add salt and spices.
  10. Before serving, sprinkle generously with herbs and add sour cream.

Milk pearl barley porridge

This simple and at the same time nutritious and tasty dish is prepared from 1 glass of pearl barley, 600 ml of milk, 20-30 g of butter, 2 tbsp. spoons of sugar and salt.

Barley is often associated with the army or places not so remote - the stereotype about it as a cheap food and intended for segments of the population not spoiled with delicacies has developed so firmly. Meanwhile, it is known for certain that Peter I loved pearl barley, although what to expect from him: he was a martinet from birth. But our last General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, they say, simply adores pearl barley. And all because dishes made from cereals have a high nutritional value, and pearl barley porridge itself is very tasty. The main thing is to cook it correctly, but without knowing how long pearl barley takes to cook, this is not so easy to do.

How to cook pearl barley deliciously while preserving the benefits

Pearl barley and barley are “sisters”, as they are made from the same type of grain: barley. However, if the cell is crushed, the pearl barley grains are left whole. So the benefits remain in them, but it is difficult to cook the grains to a pleasant edible state.

How long it takes to cook pearl barley depends on what dish it is needed for and whether the grain has been prepared for cooking.

On a note! The average cooking time for pearl barley is from 50 to 120 minutes.

Barley can be cooked perfectly tasty and crumbly if you first soak the barley in cold water for at least a couple of hours, or better yet, overnight. Then you can treat yourself to crumbly and healthy porridge in the morning: the pearl barley will boil faster than usual. After about an hour, the porridge is ready.

If there is no time for soaking, you can rinse the cereal in several cold waters and cook. But you’ll have to wait: saving time on soaking, you can’t do this on cooking. The porridge will be ready in about two hours.

It turns out very tasty if you cook pearl barley in a water bath, under a tightly closed lid. But you will have to be patient: the cooking process will take about 6 hours! But it's worth it!

Elementary: how to cook pearl barley in water

Perhaps the most important thing to learn in this “barley” business is how to cook pearl barley in water.

The first thing you need to do is rinse the cereal well, fill it with cold water, and let it brew longer. Then drain the old water, add new hot water in a ratio of 1:3 and cook over low heat. How long pearl barley is cooked depends on the volume of cereal and water; on average, the porridge is ready in an hour.

You don’t have to soak pearl barley if you know how to cook pearl barley in water without soaking. To do this, rinse the dry cereal well, add water (3 cups of water per glass of pearl barley), and bring to a boil over high heat. Then reduce the heat to minimum and cook the barley under a tight lid for about 2 hours. Periodically you need to stir and add water if it boils away to avoid burning. You need to salt the barley closer to the end of cooking, add oil to taste to the finished porridge. Then it would be good to wrap the pan with a towel and simmer the pearl barley porridge for half an hour.

This pearl barley is an excellent side dish for any meat or poultry, fish or mushrooms. It’s also an excellent base for cabbage rolls or pilaf.

Pearl cabbage rolls

Ingredients:

  • ready-made crumbly pearl barley – 1.5 cups;
  • minced pork and beef – 300g;
  • onion and one carrot;
  • garlic – 3 cloves;
  • fresh favorite greens;
  • cabbage leaves from 2 medium heads of cabbage;
  • full-fat sour cream and ketchup - 3 tablespoons each;
  • salt and ground black pepper to taste;
  • a pinch of flour dried in a frying pan.

  1. Chop the onion and grate the carrots, sauté in oil until tender, stir in the chopped garlic. Add vegetables to the boiled pearl barley, add minced meat, salt and pepper and mix well. Next, prepare the cabbage rolls as standard: put minced meat (about 2 tablespoons each) into cabbage leaves doused with boiling water and wrap in an envelope.
  2. For the sauce, in another bowl, mix sour cream with ketchup and flour, add salt to taste, pour in a glass of water and stir until smooth. Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls and simmer for half an hour after boiling.

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Pearl pilaf

Pearl barley pilaf is an original and tasty dish. How long does it take to cook pearl barley for pilaf? In general, as usual, however, cooking consists of several stages.

Ingredients:

  • meat (pulp of pork or beef, lamb) – 0.5 kg;
  • pearl barley – 400g;
  • onions and carrots - 1 piece each;
  • a little tomato paste (1-2 tablespoons);
  • butter – 1 pack (200g);
  • favorite spices and salt;
  • water as needed.

  1. To cook pearl barley pilaf, start cooking by frying the meat. The meat, pre-cut into portions, is fried until golden brown in any convenient container. Add tomato paste and spices to the meat, fry everything together.
  2. While the meat is frying, boil the pearl barley, pre-soaked in water, for about 15 minutes; water is taken in relation to cereal 3:2.
  3. Distribute the semi-finished pearl barley evenly over the meat and fill it with water or broth 2 fingers above the level of the cereal. Cook everything over low heat until the water evaporates. After this, the pilaf in a container with a tight lid is placed in a preheated oven (up to 200 degrees) for half an hour.

Pearl barley porridge a la army

Ingredients:

  • pearl barley - a glass;
  • water – 1 liter;
  • pork or beef stew – 1 can (250g);
  • garlic – clove;
  • a spoonful of ketchup or thick tomato paste;
  • salt to taste.

  1. Cook the pearl barley in water until tender; add salt towards the end of cooking.
  2. Heat the stew in a frying pan, add tomato paste and garlic pressed through a crusher. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Then mix the stew from the frying pan with pearl barley and let the “army” porridge simmer for at least half an hour (you can put it in a warm oven).

Milk pearl barley porridge

But not only semolina, rice or millet can be cooked in milk. The pearl barley turns out delicious too! To prepare, pre-soaked pearl barley should be poured with boiling water at the rate of 1.5 cups of water per glass of barley. When the porridge boils, cook it until the water almost completely disappears, then pour in hot milk (2 cups) and cook, stirring, until tender, adding salt and sugar to taste; you can add butter to the finished milk barley.

The big disadvantage of cooking pearl barley in milk is that you have to stand at the stove for a very long time, because milk is also one of those things that like to “escape.” In this case, it’s good to use a water bath, but you should know how long it takes to cook barley using this method, and be patient: the cooking time is about 6 hours!

How to cook pearl barley for soups

Pickle soup is delicious with barley, and fish soup is good with barley! You can simply cook cereal soup. There is no particular hassle in preparing pearl barley soups.
How long to cook pearl barley for pickle? If the soup is prepared with meat broth, pre-soaked pearl barley is added about an hour after the meat starts cooking. In this case, the cereal is boiled for at least 30 minutes before adding potatoes and other vegetables.

Delicious pearl barley pickle

Ingredients for soup for a 3-liter saucepan:

  • beef pulp – 250-300g;
  • pearl barley – 1/3 cup;
  • peeled potatoes - about 200g;
  • medium-sized pickled cucumber;
  • cucumber brine – 1/3 cup;
  • bulb;
  • medium carrot - 1 piece;
  • bay leaf, pepper, salt - to taste;
  • vegetable oil for sautéing vegetables – 2-3 tablespoons.

  1. Cook the meat for about an hour, remove it and cool. Pour soaked barley into the broth (how long it takes to cook barley is mentioned above), cook for half an hour, add diced potatoes.
  2. Tip: you can boil pearl barley for soups until half cooked separately, then add it to the soup, then its color will be more pleasant and the grayish tint of the broth will not appear.
  3. Cut the onion into cubes and sauté in oil with grated carrots. In a separate bowl, simmer grated or diced cucumber in 3-4 tablespoons of soup broth.
  4. Place the sautéed cucumber and cucumber into the soup, pour in the brine, add salt and cook after boiling for a couple of minutes.
  5. It is best to serve pickle soup with fresh sour cream and chopped herbs.

How to cook pearl barley as a side dish in a slow cooker

There is nothing easier than preparing pearl barley as a side dish if you have a slow cooker in the kitchen! This little helper cooks deliciously and saves her owner a lot of time. How to cook delicious barley as a side dish in a slow cooker?

Pour the pre-soaked cereal into a multi-cooker bowl and add water (1:3), add salt to taste and set to “buckwheat” (or “porridge”) mode. Depending on the type and quality of the cereal, cook from 50 minutes to an hour and a half.

A simple side dish of pearl barley in a slow cooker

Ingredients:

  • a glass of pearl barley;
  • 3 glasses of water;
  • vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons;
  • butter – 1 tablespoon;
  • carrots, tomatoes and onions - 1 piece each;
  • salt to taste.

Cook pearl barley in a multicooker, separately in a frying pan in vegetable oil, sauté diced onion, after a couple of minutes add grated carrots, after another 5 minutes add finely diced tomato. Stir the vegetables while sautéing; ready - add to the barley, mix and simmer for about 5 minutes all together.

Barley casserole with mushrooms

Ingredients:

  • ready-made pearl barley (from a glass of raw cereal);
  • onion head;
  • 300 g of mushrooms (champignons, honey mushrooms, white mushrooms, etc.);
  • a raw egg;
  • cheese - about 100g;
  • 200 ml cream.

  1. Chop the onion and fry in a frying pan until golden brown, add prepared (washed and chopped, and, if necessary, pre-boiled mushrooms). Fry for a couple of minutes, add 3 tablespoons of water and simmer until the mushrooms are cooked. Transfer the finished pearl barley (half) from the multicooker into a baking dish, the bottom of which is greased with vegetable or butter. Mushrooms are placed on top of pearl barley, and pearl barley is added on top.
  2. Beat the cream and egg, pour the mixture over the future pearl barley casserole and sprinkle grated cheese on top. In a preheated oven (200 degrees), place the baking sheet for 20 minutes until the casserole is browned on top.

How to quickly cook pearl barley? Thermos to the rescue!

If you don’t just soak the pearl barley in water overnight, but do it in a thermos, then the next morning you can be pleasantly surprised at how much faster the barley cooks than usual!

The washed cereal should be placed in a thermos and pour boiling water: per glass of cereal - 3-4 cups of boiling water. The next morning, transfer the cereal to a saucepan, add hot water (twice as much water as the steamed cereal), cook until tender for about 20 minutes, add salt at the end of cooking.

Hearty barley salad

Ingredients:

  • boiled pearl barley - a glass;
  • tomatoes – 200g;
  • bulb;
  • juice of ½ lemon;
  • garlic - a pair of cloves;
  • olive vegetable oil - a couple of tablespoons;
  • parsley, dill (you can use one or the other) - to taste;
  • squid – 100 g;
  • celery stalk – 1 pc.

  1. Wash the tomatoes, cut into slices (if small) or cubes. Finely chop the onion, chop the celery stalk, chop the herbs and chop the garlic. Fry the garlic until it becomes more aromatic, add the squid to it and fry until done.
  2. Add greens and celery, tomatoes, squid to the pearl barley and season with lemon juice, mix well. Add salt to taste.

A few “pearl” facts

  1. Pearl barley is one of the cheapest.
  2. When cooked, the volume of pearl barley increases almost fivefold from the original quantity - you need a spacious pan!
  3. You need to salt the pearl barley at the end of cooking: this way the grains will boil better.
  4. Barley is good for a diet: its calorie content, of course, is not so low (320 kcal per 100g), but it contains a lot of fiber and little starch.
  5. Pearl barley contains a lot of vitamin E - the most important vitamin of “youth”.
  6. There are also a lot of B vitamins in cereals - hair and skin are “friends” with them; with a lack of these vitamins, the hair becomes dull and split, and the skin dries and flakes.

As you can see, gray and inconspicuous cereals, which we are accustomed to treating with disdain, can be very tasty in simple dishes. After all, people don’t like pearl barley, mainly because they don’t know how to cook it properly: either the porridge will burn, or it won’t be cooked enough, or it will even turn into a sticky mass on the plate. If you know how to cook it properly and how long it takes to cook pearl barley, you can create real culinary masterpieces.


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