Barley, a cereal that history remembers as one of the oldest cultivated plants in Europe, is rich in important minerals such as potassium , magnesium , selenium , phosphorus and zinc , is an excellent source of fiber and has a low glycemic index .
Roasted as for coffee, fermented in alcoholic beverages, as malt or ground into flour – its uses are diverse. One of my favorite versions of boiled barley is the one in minestrone soup with mushrooms , while in summer I often use it cold in salads . This time I present to you a barley and chickpea stew .
I used canned chickpeas in the recipe , but you can use dry chickpeas. Take care of the soaking time and, accordingly, the cooking time, and read more about such tips, as well as the chickpeas themselves, in the article ” Chickpeas – how to prepare them and delicious recipes “.
If you want to serve the stew in bread “bowls”, you can do so with almost any bread recipe, and with it you can form balls the size of a bowl, which you then hollow out to make room for the stew.
If you want the crust to be even crispier, after you have removed the soft part of the bread from the inside, coat them lightly with olive oil and bake for 5-7 minutes in a preheated oven. Just to warm them up and for the oil to make a crispier crust on the inside so that it will be even tastier when soaked with the stew.
I will describe several of my recipes/variants of bread bowls in one of the following articles, when I will also present a recipe for Istrian jota – a hearty, thick and tasty soup with cabbage, ideal for when it gets a little colder.
Ingredients for a full pot of stew (four generous servings):
- 200 g of barley
- 240 g chickpeas (precooked)
- 2 medium-sized potatoes
- 2 liters of vegetable stock
- 2 onions
- 1 carrot
- 4 tablespoons of oil
- salt
- pepper
- fresh fennel .
Preparation
- In two soup spoons of oil, briefly fry the carrot that you previously cut into rings.
- Add vegetable stock and barley. Mix well and cook for about 20 minutes .
- During this time, chop the onion into small cubes and fry it in two tablespoons of oil. Lightly add salt to drain the water, and if necessary, add water using the water in which the barley and carrots are cooked. The onion should be stewed until it caramelizes.
- Chop the potatoes into small cubes and, after the stew has been cooked for about 20 minutes, add them together with the chickpeas , unless you are using soaked ones, then you need to add them right at the beginning, when you add the barley. Reduce the heat and cover with a lid, let everything slowly simmer for another 10 minutes .
- When the onion is ready, add one full cup of stew and grind everything with a stick mixer or blender . You will get a thick cream, which you then return to the stew and mix everything well. This will give the stew a creamy thickness and an enhanced flavor due to the caramelized onions.
- Put fresh fennel on top, which goes well with barley.
Notes
You can leave part of the caramelized onion on the side and add it to the stew during serving , especially if you like the taste and texture of caramelized onions.
If you like more sour tastes, it is ideal to serve a little pickled beet with this stew .
Also, you can store barley and chickpea stew in the refrigerator for several days , and during reheating it will probably be necessary to add a little water because it will become even thicker as it stands.
