Chewy, nutty, pearl barley isn’t just for soups. Here, we’ve made it the superstar of a hearty bowl that’s full of contrasting_and surprising_textures and Middle Eastern flavors, with its warm spices and colorful vegetables.
To hold the cooking method easy, we truly boiled the barley. This made the individual grains smooth and kept them wonderful and light. We tossed the nice and cozy barley with a brilliant lemon-mint dressing so the grains might conveniently soak it up.
While the barely cooked, we pan-roasted coriander-dusted spears of carrots till charred, sweet, and gentle. We then threw in crisp snow peas and cooked them till simply blistered, so that they would maintain their green freshness.
Toasting sunflower seeds with cumin, cardamom, and a bit extra coriander gave the dish a heat, fragrant finish. We piled a mound of the dressed barley and vegetables into our bowls, followed by using our crunchy seed topping.
Finally, to tug all of the components of the bowl together, we needed a drizzle of sauce, and our Tahini Sauce becomes a creamy, zesty addition. Do not alternative hulled barley or hull-much less barley in this recipe.
If using short-cooking or pre-steamed barley (read the ingredient listing on the bundle to decide this), you may need to decrease the barley cooking time. We also like this bowl crowned with avocado.
BARLEY BOWL WITH ROASTED CARROTS AND SNOW PEAS
Servings: 4-6
Start to finish: 1 hour, 10 minutes
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
three tablespoons minced clean mint
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest plus 2 tablespoons juice
1 half cups pearl barley
Salt and pepper
5 carrots, peeled
3/four teaspoon ground coriander
eight oz snow peas, strings removed, halved lengthwise
2/3 cup uncooked sunflower seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8teaspoon floor cardamom
1/2cup Tahini Sauce (recipe follows)
Whisk 2 half tablespoons oil, 2 tablespoons mint, and lemon zest and juice together in a huge bowl, set aside. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in a massive pot. Add barley and 1 tablespoon salt, return to boil and cook until gentle, 20 to 40 mins. Drain barley, switch to bowl with lemon-mint combination and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to flavor and cover to maintain warm.
While barley cooks, halve carrots crosswise, then halve or sector lengthwise to create uniformly sized pieces. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-excessive warmth until just smoking. Add carrots and half of the teaspoon coriander and prepare dinner, stirring sometimes, till gently charred and just soft, 5 to 7 mins. Stir in snow peas and cook till spotty brown, 3 to five mins; switch to 2d bowl.
Heat last 1 half of teaspoons oil in now-empty skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add sunflower seeds, cumin, cardamom, last 1/4 teaspoon coriander, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until seeds are toasted, approximately 2 mins; transfer to the third bowl.
Divide barley among man or woman bowls, then top with carrot-snow pea combination and sunflower seeds. Drizzle with tahini sauce, sprinkle with ultimate 1 tablespoon mint and serve.
Tahini Sauce:
Makes about 1 1/4 cups
1/2 cup tahini
1/2 cup water
1/four cup lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt
Whisk tahini, water, lemon juice, and garlic in a bowl until easy. Season with salt to flavor. (Sauce may be refrigerated for as much as four days. Bring to room temperature and stir to combine earlier than serving.)
Nutrition records according to serving: 513 calories; 262 energy from fat; 29 g fat (four g saturated; 0 g trans fat); 0 mg LDL cholesterol; 242 mg sodium; 55 g carbohydrate; 13 g fiber; four g sugar; thirteen g protein.
