Even doctors recommend: pearl barley porridge with mushrooms and onions

Unfortunately, in the diet of a city dweller it is not often possible to find dishes made from cereals obtained from barley. Despite the fact that most of us have heard about the enormous benefits of this cereal. And today we will talk about pearl barley, Friends!

I know it's not to everyone's taste. But the problem, in my opinion, is completely different - we don’t know how to cook it. In Rus' they called this cereal “royal”, meaning not only its beneficial qualities, but also its taste. And our ancestors knew a lot about natural nutrition and knew how to cook amazingly tasty dishes from pearl barley! Just like buckwheat. Today I offer a delicious dish that will conquer with its taste not only those who are fasting, but will also be an excellent recipe for variety for lovers of meat meals.

Nowadays, this cereal is greatly underestimated. I don't really understand why. After all, you can cook a lot of different and delicious things from it. Very healthy, tasty and inexpensive, with virtually no contraindications. Why have other newfangled cereals replaced it from our diet? Guys, in all respects, as they say, they can’t hold a candle to her.

This unfortunate misunderstanding must be urgently corrected. Today we’ll prepare pearl barley with champignons, oh, what a delicious thing it is! A dish that has been tested for centuries. Well, of course, in those days, it was cooked in a stove, and there were forest mushrooms... But what can we do, we don’t have stoves in our apartments, the only mushrooms in stores are champignons... But there is an excellent tasty and healthy cereal, which since then has hardly has changed. She is the main character of our dish today.

Principles of proper nutrition

Diet restrictions are a natural necessity. If you gobble up everything, there will be no positive result. But starvation is not a solution; it will only undermine the body’s strength.

A dietary menu is a balanced diet in which not only the composition of dishes is regulated, but also the methods of preparation, the number and time of meals per day. Eating well will help you become slimmer and healthier.

Nutritionists emphasize vegetarian dishes in the overall diet. No one forces you to become a convinced vegetarian, but there should be as much plant food as possible.

Benefits of vegetarian recipes:

  • a large number of vitamins, valuable amino acids, macro- and microelements, vegetable proteins;
  • an abundance of coarse dietary fiber, without which smooth bowel function is impossible;
  • wide choice - finding a vegetable, fruit or grain to suit your taste is easier than choosing the right animal product;
  • affordability - such dishes are affordable;
  • food accessibility for all ages with a few exceptions - a plant-based dish is suitable for the whole family.

Not a single competent diet (we do not consider merciless mono-diets) can do without an assortment of plant foods. If the body is faced with a lack of it, it can no longer function normally. Vegetarian dishes should include both protein and carbohydrate diets.

Barley with champignons, onions and carrots (with tomato paste)


Compound:

  • pearl barley – 0.3 kg;
  • water - 0.6 l (not counting the consumption for soaking pearl barley);
  • champignons – 0.25 kg;
  • carrots – 150 g;
  • onions – 150 g;
  • tomato paste – 20 ml;
  • refined vegetable oil – 40 ml;
  • salt, spices - to taste.

Cooking method:

  • Rinse the cereal, add a liter of water, and leave for several hours.
  • Transfer the swollen barley into a clean pan, add 0.6 liters of water and salt. Cook until done, this will take about an hour.
  • Scrub the carrots, wash and dry with a napkin. Grind the vegetable using a grater.
  • Peel the onion and cut into small cubes.
  • Wash the champignons, pat dry with a napkin, and cut into slices.
  • Heat the oil in a deep frying pan or cauldron, add onions and carrots. Fry the vegetables until the onion turns golden.
  • Add mushrooms, salt, pepper. Fry food until excess moisture has evaporated.
  • Add tomato paste, stir. Simmer the food for 2-3 minutes.
  • Transfer the pearl barley into a container with mushrooms and vegetables, mix well.
  • Cover the frying pan (or cauldron) with a lid and simmer the food for 5-10 minutes.

The dish according to this recipe will be inexpensive, but it will be tasty and satisfying. No one will leave the table hungry.

Advantages of the dish

Pearl barley porridge is not often seen on the table; it is undeservedly deprived of attention. But doctors unanimously advise eating it at least 2 times a week.

Advantages of this cereal:

  • vitamins A, B, vitamins E and PP in one bottle;
  • pearl barley strengthens the immune system. During illness, it must be on the menu;
  • it removes waste and toxins better than many other cereals;
  • a large amount of fiber is the key to rapid weight loss and high-quality saturation for a long time;
  • Specific proteins help in building muscle mass during physical activity.

Interesting! Pearl barley is prepared from barley, just like barley.

Beneficial features

Barley is rich in vitamins, minerals, and beneficial substances that play an important role in the health of the human body.

  • Cereals are rich in vitamins: A, E, B, PP, D. Contains carbohydrates, fiber, proteins, essential amino acids. It contains: iodine, bromine, nickel, calcium, iron, potassium.
  • It is a valuable dietary product. Effectively helps in the fight against excess weight. Barley is useful for obesity and diabetes. Calorie content is 320 kilocalories per 100 grams of finished product.
  • Helps improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, cleanses the body, enriches the blood with oxygen and relieves it of cholesterol plaques.
  • Strengthens the immune system, improves complexion and skin, and rejuvenates. Strengthens nails and hair, making them smooth and silky.

Culinary tricks and secrets

Pearl barley porridge is a unique dish. One can say about such recipes that they are both for the feast and for the world. Even if guests have arrived or a feast is planned, this option for main course is a godsend. This is both an independent dish and a good side dish for dietary meat, fish or poultry.

Barley is especially tasty with mushrooms. Much depends on mushrooms. The dish will be much more flavorful if wild mushrooms are added.

A few recommendations regarding cooking technology:

  1. Barley should be prepared for 1 (maximum 2) full meals. The more often a dish is reheated, the less useful it is.
  2. When the porridge is stewing, you can put on top, without chopping, a sprig of tarragon, basil, or marjoram for aroma. They can then be deleted.
  3. If you want a spicier dish, add chili pepper. Either they finely chop the pod or put it in whole so that it gives up its pungency to the porridge and can be removed.
  4. Pearl barley porridge is not only a side dish, but also a filling for appetizers. For example, it can be wrapped in pita bread or diet pancakes.

Cooking features

  • Barley must be thoroughly washed before cooking. To do this, fill the cereal with water, rub the grains against each other, and drain the cloudy water. The manipulation is repeated until the water remains clear.
  • Barley cooks very slowly. If you soak it for 10-12 hours before cooking, it will cook quite quickly: in 40-50 minutes in a saucepan or an hour in a slow cooker. After soaking pearl barley for 4-6 hours, you can cook it in an hour in a saucepan, in 1.5 hours in a slow cooker. The soaking time can be reduced to an hour if you use boiling water instead of cool water. Then the porridge will cook in 40 minutes in a saucepan and in 50 minutes in a slow cooker. If you cook the cereal for 5 minutes in a large amount of water, let it stand in boiling water for a quarter of an hour, then add clean water and let it cook, it will be ready in half an hour in a saucepan, after 40 minutes in a slow cooker. Without soaking, barley cooks for 2-2.5 hours.
  • If you cook pearl barley without soaking, you need to take 4 cups of water per glass of cereal. If the cereal has been soaked, it is enough to take 2.5 water per glass of pearl barley.
  • You can prepare any mushrooms with pearl barley, but they must be prepared in accordance with their category. Often they need to be soaked in acidified water and boiled, and then added to a dish or fried if the recipe requires it. Porcini mushrooms, champignons and oyster mushrooms can be fried without pre-boiling, so they are most often used for cooking.

conclusions

Although at some point pearl barley disappeared from view and became a rarity in the kitchen, now we can talk about its triumphant return. Despite the fact that this cereal has the epithet “country”, you can use it to prepare original, even gourmet, dishes. The main thing is to know how to do it.

The dietary properties of pearl barley and dishes made from it cannot be denied, but this fact should not become a reason for “gastronomic fanaticism.” Of course, you can lose weight with pearl barley, but this does not mean that you can eat it unlimitedly at any time of the day or night.

This is only part of the diet, albeit a very important one. In order for any food to be beneficial, the diet must be combined with physical activity and healthy habits.

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Barley porridge with forest mushrooms, onions and carrots in a slow cooker


Compound:

  • pearl barley – 0.3 kg;
  • boiled wild mushrooms – 0.3 kg;
  • onions – 150 g;
  • carrots – 100 g;
  • refined vegetable oil – 40 ml;
  • water - how much will it take;
  • salt, ground black pepper - to taste.

Cooking method:

  • Boil wild mushrooms until tender. Cool, cut.
  • Soak the pearl barley in hot water for about an hour.
  • After freeing the onion from the husk, cut into small cubes.
  • Coarsely grate the peeled carrots.
  • Pour oil into the multicooker bowl, place vegetables and mushrooms in it. Start the unit by selecting the “Frying” program for 20 minutes. If your multicooker model does not have the specified program, you can cook in the baking mode.
  • After the specified time, add pearl barley and half a liter of water. Change the program to one that is designed for preparing cereal dishes. It may be called “Pilaf”, “Rice”, “Porridge” or something else. If there is no special program for cooking porridge, you can cook in the stewing mode by setting the timer for 40 minutes.
  • After the program has completed, stir the products. Leave the porridge to simmer in the heating mode for 20-30 minutes. During this time, the pearl barley will steam even better and become saturated with the aroma of mushrooms.

Note to housewives

Follow these tips and you will succeed:

  • It is better to pre-soak the cereal for several hours. Then the porridge will be crumbly.
  • Instead of fresh mushrooms, you can use frozen ones. Just defrost them first and drain the juice.
  • The most suitable modes for pearl barley: “Pilaf”, “Rice”, “Porridge”.
  • If you want a richer taste, add vegetable, meat or mushroom broth instead of water.
  • After cooking, it is better to leave the pearl barley under the lid of the multicooker for another hour to allow the dish to steep.
  • The ratio of cereal to liquid is 1 to 2.5.

Knowing these little tricks will help you prepare this great dish.

Selection and preparation of ingredients

The principle of preparing the proposed dishes - with champignons and vegetables - is based on three stages:

  • boiling pearl barley;
  • frying and stewing mushrooms (with or without vegetables);
  • as well as combining all the ingredients and heating them for a short time.

Champignons should be chosen whole and clean. They need to be washed and dried. Vegetables are peeled, washed, chopped or chopped, grated, for example, carrots.

Important! Pearl barley porridge with champignons and fried vegetables is especially tender and aromatic if you combine all the ingredients in a thick-walled pan and put it in the oven.

Frozen mushroom soup with barley

There are very few people who are not driven crazy by the fragrant aroma of wild mushrooms! “Silent hunting” is the favorite pastime of many city dwellers and the vast majority of villagers. Fresh forest mushrooms are dried, salted and pickled. Technologies of the 20th century added to these ancient methods of storage one more, perhaps the most common one today - freezing!

After all, what a pleasure it is to get a bag of peeled, pre-boiled mushrooms in winter and fry them with potatoes... or prepare a thick, aromatic soup that will appeal to both big and small (although it is extremely undesirable to give any mushrooms to children under 3 years old, after all, this is quite difficult for digestion, and also a very allergenic product). But what about those who did not bother with a strategic supply of frozen boletus and boletus in the summer?

Fortunately, in almost every store the shelves are full of bright bags of frozen mushrooms, there are also cultivated inexpensive honey mushrooms, and there are also royal porcini mushrooms. In any case, no matter what mushrooms you choose, before cooking they must be completely defrosted and rinsed very thoroughly with cold water, since bags of wild mushrooms often contain spruce needles and withered leaves.

I prefer to buy mushroom mixtures: they contain noble mushrooms, which provide taste and aroma, as well as simpler mushrooms for volume, which greatly reduces the cost of the entire purchase. My recipe today is very simple and unpretentious, but the soup turns out thick, rich and tasty.

Total cooking time – 0 hours 40 minutes Active cooking time – 0 hours 10 minutes Cost – average cost Calories per 100 g – 34 kcal Number of servings – 4 servings

Cooking with chicken

Mushrooms and cereals are, of course, delicious, but many gourmets cannot live without meat. Especially for them, we offer the following recipe for making pearl barley with chicken.

Ingredients:

  • 320 g pearl barley;
  • 280 g poultry fillet;
  • 245 g mushrooms;
  • onions and carrots;
  • two garlic cloves.

Cooking method:

  1. Pour barley grains into plain water and leave for 40 minutes.
  2. Turn on the appliance to the “Frying” mode, pour in the oil. While it is warming up, cut the bird fillet into cubes and then fry until golden brown.
  3. Then add chopped onions, garlic and carrots to the meat, simmer the ingredients together until the vegetables are ready.
  4. Pour in the cereal, add water in a ratio of 1:2, switch to the “Stew” mode and cook the dish for an hour.
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