How long does it take to prepare pearl barley porridge? How to cook pearl barley in water: step-by-step recipes with and without soaking. Pearl barley porridge with vegetables and herbs

Most often, pearl barley is included in soups, but is not prepared as a separate porridge. Housewives should not forget that this healthy product makes delicious, nutritious and budget-friendly side dishes. If you add meat or mushrooms to the cereal, you will be able to prepare a complete hearty lunch with pearl barley porridge. How to cook the cereal under discussion, and what additives it goes well with, is described below.

In order for the planned dish to turn out truly tasty, you need to know a few secrets of cooking it, as well as choose the right grains. The Dutch pearl barley variety is ideal for porridges. It cooks quickly and turns out soft and tender. But it is better to leave the classic varieties of the product for soups.

Approximate proportions

In order for the dish to have a pleasant crumbly structure, you need to carefully monitor the proportions of cereal and liquid. If the product was pre-soaked for a long time, then 1 tbsp. of the bulk ingredient, take 1 liter of liquid. When cooking without soaking, the amount of water should be increased by 1.5 times.

How long does it take to cook?

The exact cooking time for the porridge will also depend on whether the cereal was left in the water before the culinary experiment. If the housewife chose a long-term soaking approach (at least 6-7 hours), then the porridge will only take half an hour to cook. After this, she will only need to brew a little.

For short-term soaking (2-3 hours), the dish will simmer under the lid for 45-55 minutes. In this case, the heating of the stove should be minimal.

Pearl barley porridge as a side dish

The dish will be low-calorie if you cook it with regular filtered water. You will need to use 630 ml of liquid. Other ingredients: 1 tbsp. pearl barley, salt to taste, a piece of butter.

The pearl barley is washed to clean water and left to swell overnight.
The prepared product is poured with fresh liquid and cooked for 35 minutes. Salt and oil are immediately added to the container.

A tasty addition to the side dish is an assortment of cucumbers, bell peppers and tomatoes.

With added meat

The addition of meat will make the treat more satisfying and nutritious. For example, pork pulp. Ingredients: 650 g meat, 1.5 tbsp. pearl barley, onion, sour apple, carrot, salt, pork seasoning mixture.

Pieces of meat with layers of lard are fried in a frying pan without oil. Enough of the rendered fat. When a golden crust appears on the slices, you can transfer them to the duckling pan.
Chopped onions and thin sticks of carrots are sautéed in the melted fat. Lastly, small apple cubes are added to these products. The mass is salted and sprinkled with spices.
Vegetables are transferred to the meat. Cereals pour out on top. The food is poured with water so that it is approximately 1 cm higher.
Pearl barley porridge with meat will simmer until cooked (without a lid) for 60-70 minutes.

To make the treat even tastier, after time has passed, you should cover the duckling and send it to the hot oven for another half hour.

Recipe for cooking with stew

Instead of fresh meat, you can also use pork stew for the dish under discussion. One standard jar will be enough. Other ingredients: 1 tbsp. cereals, 2 onions, 2.5 tbsp. filtered water, a pair of garlic cloves, 2 medium carrots, salt, a mixture of peppers.

Barley is soaked in water for 8-10 hours.
In a deep cast-iron frying pan, the stew with all the contents of the jar is heated. Finely chopped onions, garlic and carrots are also sent there. The ingredients are fried together for 7-8 minutes.
Soaked cereal is cooked for 10-15 minutes in salted water. Next, it, along with some of the water, is poured into a frying pan for frying. You can add salt to the dish.
The treat languishes for half an hour under a closed lid.

Before serving, the porridge should sit for 15-20 minutes.

Barley with mushrooms

This version of the dish can become both a side dish and an independent lunch. Ingredients: 830 ml filtered water, 230 g cereal, 230 g fresh champignons, carrots, salt, onion, mushroom seasoning.

The washed cereal is soaked for half an hour, after which it is sent to boil in salted water. It will take about an hour to prepare. The liquid should completely evaporate during this time.
Chopped onions and carrots are sauteed until golden. It is best to cook them in butter.
Mushrooms and seasoning are added to the finished frying. Together, the ingredients cook for another 7-8 minutes.
The contents of the frying pan are poured into the pan with porridge. The treat is mixed well, salted and left to brew for half an hour.

You can improve this barley recipe. For example, add red bell pepper and/or tomatoes to the fry.

Milk pearl barley porridge

You should definitely prepare your own favorite dish of Peter I. It was pearl barley with cow’s milk. Ingredients: 1 tbsp. cereals, 2 large spoons of butter, a pinch of salt, a large spoon of granulated sugar, 900 ml of milk.

The pearl barley is soaked in cold water overnight. In the morning, it is washed well and boiled for 12-14 minutes in salt water.
Next, the slightly boiled product is placed in a colander and added to boiling milk.
The porridge is salted and sprinkled with sugar.
After another 15 minutes, the container with the treat is moved to a water bath and simmered in it for 2.5-3 hours.

If the housewife has time to spare, you can increase the cooking time to 6-7 hours.

With Chiken

Goes well with pearl barley porridge and chicken. Ingredients: 280 g of cereal, 1-2 onions, 320 g of chicken, 2 carrots, salt, broth, garlic to taste and spices for pilaf.

The washed pearl barley is soaked in cold water for a couple of hours.
Small pieces of chicken are well fried along with chopped onions, carrots and garlic in oil. The mass is immediately salted and sprinkled with seasonings.
The resulting roasted poultry and vegetables are transferred to the duckling pot. The prepared cereal is distributed on top.
The products need to be filled with broth so that it is about 1 cm higher.
The porridge will be cooked under the lid until the broth has completely evaporated.

Ready barley is seasoned with salt to taste.

Barley with pumpkin

It is best to take the vegetable fresh - without peel and seeds. Ingredients: 1 tbsp. cereals, 1.5 tbsp. filtered water, 320 g pumpkin pulp, salt, onion, sweet pepper, 2 tomatoes.

The cereal is soaked in water for 4 hours.
First, onions and carrots (chopped) are fried in a frying pan, then they are cooked together with cubes of pumpkin, peppers and tomatoes.
Vegetables are stewed until soft over low heat.
Barley is boiled in salted water until fully cooked.
All that remains is to transfer the porridge into the frying pan with the vegetables, stir and simmer the ingredients together for another 7-8 minutes.

You can add crushed garlic to the dish to taste.

How to cook in a slow cooker?

The “smart pan” will make the process of preparing the discussed “capricious” porridge a little easier. Ingredients: 1 tbsp. cereals and 2 times more broth, salt to taste.

The pearl barley is soaked in water for a couple of hours, after which it is transferred to the bowl of the device and filled with any broth.
Salt is immediately added to the cereal. You can also add butter to taste.
The dish is prepared in milk porridge mode.

With the specified proportions of liquid and dry ingredients, the treat turns out crumbly.

For the most part, modern housewives are interested in how to cook pearl barley in water only if they decide to prepare pickle sauce. This cereal is somehow not particularly popular, despite its proven benefits, unusual texture and nutritional value. This is largely due to unpleasant memories from school or kindergarten. But if you do everything correctly, it will turn out not only healthy, but also tasty.

Once you learn how to handle the component, you will want to see it not only in soup, but also use it as a side dish and serve it as an independent dish. The secrets to success are very simple: do not give up soaking, follow the recommended proportions and clearly understand how much to cook barley depending on the approach used.

How to properly cook pearl barley in water?

To prepare crumbly and dense cereals, which can be used as part of a pickle or as a base for a side dish, you need to use one of the following recipes:

Long soak approach. Take 1 liter of water per glass of product. We thoroughly wash the cereal, changing the liquid several times until it remains clear. Fill the component with cold water and leave for at least 6 hours, and preferably overnight. After this, we rinse the composition again, fill it with a liter of fresh water and put it on fire. After boiling, drain the liquid, rinse the barley again and add fresh boiling water. How long to cook pearl barley that has undergone this treatment? No more than 30 minutes. You can either let it steep a little or add it to the soup 5 minutes before turning it off.

Short soaking approach. To get a crumbly mass and not have to wait so long, you can use a slightly different approach. We sort the grains, wash them, soak them for 4 hours and wash them again. We fill the workpiece with water, but now we take not 1 liter of liquid per glass of pearl barley, but 1.5 liters. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook covered over low heat for 50 minutes. Then we wrap the container with a towel and place it in a warm place for another 40 minutes. After this, salt the finished product, season it with butter if desired, and use it for its intended purpose.

Tip: To prepare soup, it is better to choose classic cereals, which, even after heat treatment, will retain the required density. But for porridges, the Dutch variety of the product is more suitable. It is soft and boils faster.

Option without soaking. For 1 glass of cereal we take 1.5 liters of water. We sort the product, rinse it, and add it to boiling water. Boil the barley for 2-3 minutes over high heat, drain the liquid and pour cold water instead. After the mixture boils, the heat should be reduced to low. This mixture will take a long time to cook - about 1.5 hours.

Using the above methods, you can both cook pearl barley as a side dish and prepare the component for subsequent use in various dishes. The only thing is that before serving the dish, it is recommended to let the mixture sit for a little while in order to achieve the most pleasant texture.

The best way to boil pearl barley in milk

Traditional pearl barley porridge is usually boiled exclusively in milk. The classic version of preparing the dish is as follows:

We take 1 cup of cereal, 1 liter of yogurt for soaking it, 2 liters of milk, 2 tablespoons of butter and a little sugar. It is highly not recommended to violate the proportions. Even minor shifts in one direction or the other can ruin the final product.
We wash the cereal, soak it in yogurt overnight, and then rinse the composition again.

Heat the milk and sugar on the stove, add the prepared cereal to the liquid and boil over low heat under the lid for 10 minutes.
To make it truly delicious, the preparation must be infused in a water bath for 4 hours. Don't waste your time, the results will be worth it.
The finished product will be properly seasoned with butter and left for half an hour, covered, in a warm place.

Of course, it is almost impossible to obtain crumbly pearl barley in this way, but in a creamy gravy its delicate texture will no longer matter so much. In any case, it will turn out very tasty and satisfying.

Alternative methods for preparing cereals

Those who are interested in options for how to quickly cook pearl barley should consider the following approaches:

In the oven. Take a glass of pearl barley, 3 glasses of water, salt, oil, herbs. Pre-soak the cereal for several hours, then rinse and place in pots. Pour boiling water over the mixture, which should cover the product by 2 cm. There is no need to use lids! Place the containers in a not yet preheated oven and cook for 40 minutes at a temperature of 220ºC. Add salt, pepper, oil, and herbs to the ready-made crumbly porridge.

In a slow cooker. Take 1 glass of pearl barley and 3 glasses of water, additional ingredients at your discretion. Wash the cereal and soak for a couple of hours. It’s not entirely correct to use boiling water for this, but as a last resort, you can try this option (hold for about 10 minutes). Place the workpiece in the multicooker bowl, fill it with water, add salt, butter and cook in the “Buckwheat” mode.

In the microwave. With this approach, it turns out quite tasty and time-saving. Take a glass of pearl barley, 1.5 glasses of water, butter and salt. We wash the soaked component, put it in a cooking dish, fill it with water and boil over high heat for 3 minutes. Transfer the mixture into a heat-resistant bowl, season with salt, and cover with a lid. Microwave at maximum power for 5 minutes. Then we reduce the power and prepare the composition for another half hour. We evaluate the degree of readiness of the product and, if necessary, put it in the microwave for another 5 minutes. Season the finished pearl barley with oil.

It is equally convenient to cook pearl barley in a rice cooker. Depending on the pre-soaking time, the process will take from 1 to 2 hours. The easiest way to prepare the product is in a regular thermos. Simply rinse the glass of the component, transfer the mixture into a thermos and fill it with boiling water. It is enough to keep the workpiece for 4 hours so that it reaches the desired state. Season the ready-made crumbly porridge with salt, butter, and, if desired, decorate with herbs. But it is not recommended to overcook the mixture; over time, its original taste will only deteriorate.

Pearl barley contains a lot of useful substances that are difficult to find among other grains. Pearl barley is made from barley grain. Porridge is not so popular in our cuisine. Not all housewives know how to cook pearl barley in water, what dishes it can be added to, and what nuances exist for preparing crumbly, aromatic pearl barley porridge.

For six servings of a side dish, it is enough to take the following quantities of food:

pearl barley - 1 cup;
oil drain - 1 table. l.;
salt - ¾ tsp;
water - 3 cups.

During the production and packaging of cereals, particles of dust and small debris often fall along with the grains. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is rinse the pearl barley through a sieve under running water.

Bring the barley to a boil, uncovered, and cook for about five minutes. Then turn the heat to the lowest setting, cover with a lid and continue cooking for 45-50 minutes.

During cooking, all the water should be absorbed. Now you can put a piece of butter, let it melt a little and stir. Leave for half an hour, serve with chopped herbs.

On a note. The side dish perfectly complements meat and fish dishes, goes well with vegetables and various types of cheese. Those with a sweet tooth will appreciate the taste of porridge in combination with honey, jam, and condensed milk.

Approximate proportions

The proportions of porridge and water depend on what kind of side dish you want to get in the end:

crumbly pearl barley: measure 1 part porridge to 2.5 parts water;
For thick, boiled, sticky porridge, use 1 part porridge to 4 parts water.

On a note. Soaked cereal cooks faster and is softer than raw cereal that has only been washed under water.

How long does it take to cook?

To the question “How long to cook pearl barley?” It is impossible to answer unequivocally. It all depends on several factors: the method of preparation, the time of pre-soaking or without soaking. The time frame for cooking pearl barley porridge is from 40 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes.

Pearl barley as a side dish in a slow cooker

Delicious pearl barley as a side dish is made in a slow cooker. The kitchen assistant will make the porridge crumbly, soft, and aromatic.

We offer a recipe for a very tasty side dish of pearl barley:

pearl barley - 2 cups;
onion - 1 unit;
chicken broth - half a liter;
vegetable oil - a couple of table. spoon;
hard cheese - 50 g;
salt, pepper - ½ tsp each;
fresh dill - 50 gr.

Use pre-soaked pearl barley.

Next, pearl barley is prepared in a slow cooker as follows:

Chop the onion and fry in oil heated in a multicooker on the “Baking” program for 8 minutes.
Then add the pearl barley, stirring, cook for about seven minutes, add broth, salt and pepper. Close the lid and set the cooking time to a quarter of an hour.
In the meantime, prepare the remaining ingredients: three cheeses, finely chop the herbs.
When the timer notifies you that cooking is complete, add cheese to the side dish, stir, select the “Warming” program and time 50 minutes. When finished, add the greens, mix and leave for another 10 minutes.

The consistency of the side dish is viscous, and the taste is very delicate. It complements various meat and fish dishes well.

Classic rassolnik with pearl barley on water

filtered water - 2-2.5 l;
medium potatoes - 4-5 units;
pickles - 2 units;
carrots and onions - 1 unit each;
brine - ½ cup;
pearl barley - ½ cup;
bay leaf - 1 leaf;
allspice - 4 peas.

First, rinse the pearl barley under running water. Boil water and pour it over the cereal for forty minutes. Then bring it to a boil.

For now, let's prepare the vegetables: peel, rinse, divide the potatoes into cubes, grate the carrots, and chop the onion. First, fry the onion until lightly yellow, and then add the carrots and simmer for about ten minutes. If the vegetables’ own juice is not enough, pour in a couple of tablespoons of water, perhaps from barley. Add potatoes to cereal and cook for 15 minutes.

Place the roast in the pickle pan. Cut the cucumber into circles and send there. Cook for another five minutes. Leave to brew under the lid for a quarter of an hour, without heat.

On a note. Cucumbers are added to the pickle last, since their characteristic sourness may interfere with the preparation of other products. You can add fried mushrooms for a richer dish.

How to steam cereal in a thermos?

Steaming pearl barley using a thermos significantly speeds up its preparation. The method of soaking in a thermos is perfect when the side dish needs to be prepared quickly. To do this, pour 1 ½ liters of boiling water into a glass of cereal and leave for half an hour. Afterwards, the pearl barley can be prepared in any way you like.

Barley for fishing

Pearl barley is an excellent bait for catching various fish.

How to cook pearl barley for fishing for crucian carp, carp, bream and other fish:

water - 1 ½ l;
sugar and salt - 5 g each;
pearl barley and millet - one glass;
vegetable oil - table. spoon.

First of all, set the barley to cook. From the moment it boils, it should cook for a third of an hour. Afterwards you can add millet, salt and sweeten. Make the fire low and cover with a lid. Continue cooking for another 40 minutes, then add oil, stir and set aside for the bait to cool.

Pearl barley also makes excellent bait:

water - 1 l.;
pearl barley - a glass;
semolina - table. l.;
honey - 1 tsp.

Boil the cereal for half an hour over low heat, then reduce the temperature at the end. Place the finished porridge on a dish, sprinkle with semolina, add honey. Mix well, compact into a thick layer, and cool.

Pearl barley is a cereal obtained from barley grains. It is known to almost everyone, but many people believe that you can only make porridge from pearl barley, but it turns out to be very hard and tasteless.

In fact, dishes made from it can be delicious in their taste, the main thing is to prepare it correctly.

And thanks to its beneficial properties combined with its low price, pearl barley can easily compete for first place with such popular buckwheat and rice.

Pearl barley porridge can be considered one of the most useful products. Pearl barley is a whole grain, which means it retains more vitamins than crushed grain.

It also contains all B vitamins, vitamin A for vision, vitamin E antioxidant, D for bones and joints, PP for skin. The fiber contained in pearl barley improves intestinal function.

This porridge contains all the micro- and macroelements, as well as amino acids, necessary for the coordinated functioning of the body.

Scientists have isolated the antibacterial component hordecin from pearl barley. It belongs to the group of natural antibiotics and helps in the fight against pathogenic microorganisms.

Due to these properties, this food product is included in therapeutic diets and weight loss diets. Barley is included in the menu of children's institutions, medical institutions and the military.

Calorie content is 320 kcal per 100 g of dry cereal. The same amount contains 8 g of dietary fiber, protein - 9.3 g, fat - 1.2 g, and most carbohydrates - 67 g.

How long to cook pearl barley until done: maintain the proportions of water and cereal

The duration of cooking of this cereal depends on whether it was soaked or not, what dish is being prepared, and also what cooking method will be used.

Most often, the cereal is simply soaked for several hours. You can soak it in the evening to prepare aromatic porridge for breakfast in the morning. With this method, the cereal swells well, and you will need to cook for 20-25 minutes.

If there is absolutely no time and you need to prepare lunch as quickly as possible, then you can do without soaking. You just need to rinse the pearl barley very thoroughly under running water, then take one and a half liters of water per glass of cereal and cook for 3-4 minutes. Such actions will help get rid of flour dust, due to which the porridge can be excessively slimy. Then drain this water and add fresh water, in which the cereal should cook after boiling for about an hour.

In stores you can buy porridge in portioned bags. This pearl barley is already pre-processed in a special way, which allows you to preserve all the useful substances, but at the same time speed up the cooking process. The box with the product indicates the cooking time for the porridge, usually 20 minutes.

To add pearl barley to first courses, it is better to first boil pearl barley until ready using one of the methods described above, and add it to the soup five minutes before it is ready.

How to properly cook pearl barley with and without soaking

Pearl barley can be cooked in water, milk or meat or vegetable broth.

Pearl barley porridge on water: crumbly and viscous

Be sure to thoroughly rinse the cereal in cold water, preferably running, or change the water several times.
Fill the washed cereal with 1 liter of water for 6-8 hours.
Before putting the porridge on the stove, you need to rinse it again. Then place in a pan of suitable size, preferably with a thick bottom.
Boil water separately, then pour 2-3 cups of boiled water over the barley. Place on high heat, once boiling, reduce to medium. Cook for 25 minutes under a closed lid, after this time add salt, stir the porridge and cook for another 5-10 minutes.
Turn off the stove, but do not remove the pan from it for another 10 minutes. During this time, the pearl barley will sweat and reach readiness.

Barley with milk

Porridge cooked with milk turns out very tasty. This nutritious dish is suitable for children and adults, especially as a breakfast. To prepare it, you need:

Rinse 250 g of cereal in several waters and soak for 5-6 hours.
Pour the prepared pearl barley with milk, which you will need 4 cups, add salt to taste and add a couple of tablespoons of sugar.
First place the pan over high heat until it boils, then reduce it to medium. Cook the porridge for 50-55 minutes.
Add dried fruits, butter or nuts to the finished porridge.

There is a recipe for making porridge with broth. You can use vegetable, chicken, or beef broth. For a glass of cereal broth you will need to take three glasses.

We wash the pearl barley in advance and soak it in water for three hours. Then put the pearl barley into the broth and cook over medium heat until tender, about one hour. At the end of cooking, add salt and add spices as desired.

Quick cooking method

To prepare pearl barley quickly, you can use a regular thermos.

Place one glass of well-washed barley in it and pour two glasses of boiling water. After two hours, transfer to a saucepan and cook for 15-20 minutes. That's it, the crumbly porridge is ready, all that remains is to add salt, add sugar to taste and add butter.

If you don’t have a thermos, you can cook pearl barley quickly without soaking. To do this, rinse it, pour boiling water in a ratio of 1:3, and leave for ten minutes. Then drain this water and add a new portion of boiling water, cook until tender.

Various technologies for preparing pearl barley

This porridge can be cooked not only on the stove. Modern housewives can prepare pearl barley in a variety of ways, which we will describe below.

Pressure cooker

This appliance cooks food under pressure. Thanks to this, the cooking process takes less time, and vitamins and beneficial microelements are preserved as much as possible.

To cook barley in a pressure cooker, you need:

Put cereal and water in a ratio of 1:2. You can use milk instead of water.
After boiling, add salt, sugar and butter to taste.
Close the lid and set the desired program.
In 15 minutes, a fragrant and healthy breakfast is ready!

Multicooker

A multicooker makes the process of preparing porridge easier.

The cereal should be soaked for one to two hours before cooking. You can grease the bowl with butter before adding the cereal, this will improve the taste of the finished dish. Add a glass of pearl barley and 2-3 glasses of water.

The mode is selected depending on the model of the device: “Milk porridge”, “Buckwheat”. In any case, the selection of the mode is based on the cooking time, that is, one hour. You can cook in a slow cooker without pre-soaking, then you need to choose a longer cooking mode - 1.5-2 hours.

Video recipe for pearl barley porridge with stew.

Microwave

In the microwave, barley is cooked at 400 W for half an hour. To do this, you will need special dishes for microwave ovens, in which you need to place one glass of pearl barley and two glasses of water. To cover with a lid.

It must be remembered that the container must be large enough, otherwise all the water will leak out during the cooking process.

Oven

In the oven, porridge turns out especially tasty if you cook it in pots. You can prepare pearl barley porridge with meat, for this you need:

Pre-prepare the cereal by soaking it for several hours, or even better, overnight. Rinse well.
In a frying pan, first fry the meat, cut into small pieces, then add onions and carrots. Fry for another 5-7 minutes.
Mix cereals and meat with vegetables, place in pots. There is no need to fill them all the way to the top.
Then pour in water or broth. There should be about 2.5 cm left to the top, since everything will boil during the cooking process, add salt to taste, add spices and bay leaves. Mix everything again.
Cover the pots with lids and place in an oven preheated to 190 degrees. After the liquid in the pots begins to boil, you need to reduce the heat to 170 degrees. This porridge takes an hour and a half to prepare.

You can prepare mushroom pearl barley porridge by replacing the meat with oyster mushrooms, champignons, and wild mushrooms.

You can make pickles, soups, and many main courses from pearl barley: sweet porridges with berries and fruits, nuts, porridges with meat, stewed meat, and vegetables. This is an excellent side dish for many dishes and is very easy to prepare.

To do this you need:

There are recipes for making desserts from pearl barley. Here is one of them:

Rinse half a glass of cereal and soak for two hours.
Drain the water, rinse again, and add one glass of water. Cook over medium heat.
After 10-15 minutes, pour one glass of any fruit juice and cook until tender.
At the end, add a little salt, honey or sugar to taste, nuts and dried fruits.
Place in a beautiful bowl and top with berry jam.

Barley, if cooked correctly, is a very tasty porridge, completely undeservedly forgotten by many housewives. Thanks to many recipes for delicious dishes with barley, you can diversify your diet. Such food will not only be tasty, but will also benefit the body.

We often refuse pearl barley, and the reasons for refusal can be different: misconception about its calorie content, lack of knowledge about its incredible benefits, too long a cooking process... And this is wrong! There is no way to exclude army porridge, as people are accustomed to calling it.

Few housewives can boast of having a container of barley in their kitchen. And if he is present, then, as a rule, he is waiting in the wings to end up in a pickle. While many tasty dishes, and most importantly, healthy ones, can be prepared from this product.

In fact, properly prepared cereal has only 120 calories per 100 grams, while it has a whole range of vitamins, amino acids, protein and essential plant
fat

But you can cook pearl barley in different ways, and, contrary to the misconceptions of many people, there are quite a lot of ways to quickly prepare it.

It is important to maintain certain proportions. To obtain a crumbly mass, a ratio of 1 cup of grains per 1.5 liters of liquid is required. For a more viscous substance – 1 to 1000 ml. Before cooking barley grains, they must be soaked.

There are two types of soaking.

Long-term soaking is characterized by primary processing before. Rinse the cereal thoroughly in cold water until the liquid becomes completely clear. Leave for 6-7 hours or overnight. After this, we rinse the barley again, fill it with water and put it on the stove. After boiling, drain the water and add boiling water. After this treatment, the cereal should be cooked very carefully; after 20 minutes, constantly remove one grain at a time and test for doneness.
A short soaking helps us get crumbly pearl barley porridge. By analogy with the previous method, wash the cereal, then leave for 4 hours. After this soaking, you need to cook for 50 minutes.

Is it possible, and most importantly, how to cook pearl barley without soaking? We thoroughly wash the grains - this will remove all small particles and flour that contribute to the formation of mucus after cooking the cereal. After washing, fill a glass of cereal with 1.5 liters of water and cook the cereal for 2-3 minutes. Drain the water and add fresh water in the same ratio. Wait for it to boil and then cook over low heat for 50-60 minutes. Ready.

Cooking methods

On the water. We will not dwell on this method, because... We examined it above in the processes of soaking cereals. The only thing you still need to know about this method is that if you want crumbly cereal, you need more water, if it’s viscous, you need a liter of water for one glass of pearl barley. It is also necessary to take into account that if the cereal has been stored for a long time, soaking is indispensable, and it must be washed thoroughly. It is this method that also talks about how to cook pearl barley for fishing. Our product is actively used when fishing for crucian carp.
With milk. Fill the pre-washed and soaked cereal with water and boil for 10-15 minutes. Drain the water and pour 4 cups of milk per cup of pearl barley into the pan. And cook until done. Add butter. Delicious porridge with milk is ready.
To Redmond. Before cooking, we use the long-term soaking method. Drain the water and place the mixture in. Add water and oil again - the liquid should cover by 1.5-2 cm. We set the device to “stewing” or “cooking” mode and cook for a little less than one hour.
In the oven. By analogy with all previous methods, we prepare cereals for cooking. Place in pots and fill with water in the same way as in the previous method. Place in an unheated oven and cook for 40 minutes at maximum temperature. There is no need to cover the pots with a lid. Add salt, butter and other ingredients to the prepared porridge.
IN . Boil the pre-soaked product on the stove for 3 minutes in two liters of water. Then we put it in a heat-resistant container in the microwave. Cook for 5 minutes at maximum temperature, then reduce the power by one or two notches and cook for 30 minutes. This is one of the fastest ways to cook pearl barley in water quickly.
In a steamer. Perhaps the ideal way to prepare delicious crumbly porridge while preserving all the beneficial components of this product. The only negative is that steaming will take quite a long time, on average an hour and a half. Place the long-soaked cereal into a container for steaming. And set the timer for 40 minutes. You need 2.5 liters of water per 1 cup of pearl barley. After the time has passed, add salt and add 1 glass of water or milk and leave for another 40-50 minutes. Let's try.
How to cook pearl barley in bags? Pearl barley is now sold in bags in stores - it is much more expensive, but it takes 20 minutes to prepare such grain. This cereal has already been pre-processed, but this does not mean that it has lost its beneficial properties. Barley belongs to the category of products that, as a result of heat and other treatments, lose excess calories, releasing other useful compounds, such as fiber. The following instructions are always written on the boxes: put a bag in a saucepan with water or milk, cook for 20 minutes on maximum heat, when ready, put the contents of the bag on a plate, add butter.

Barley is a dietary product and therefore is perfect for breakfast in the form of regular porridge with butter, and will also serve as a side dish for almost any dish.

Let's look at the most popular recipes and, using their analogy, try to understand which methods of cooking pearl barley are best suited in certain cases.

One of the most popular soups in Russian cuisine, along with cabbage soup and borscht, is prepared according to the following recipe.

It is necessary to cook pearl barley for pickle until half cooked, or after a long soaking. Place 300 grams of beef in a 3-liter saucepan, add water, salt and cook for an hour. We take out the beef and cut it into cubes. Place cereals into the broth, chopped potatoes - 250 g. Fry carrots and onions.

Then cut 100 g of pickled or pickled cucumbers into small shavings and simmer them in beef broth for several minutes. Mix with carrots and onions. Add beef, onions, carrots and cucumbers to the broth with barley and potatoes. Add one glass of brine.

After boiling, let it simmer for another 2-3 minutes, add salt and spices. Let it brew for a while and sprinkle generously with herbs. The soup is ready, you can add sour cream and eat.

Of course, you need to cook some other kind of barley soup, for which you have enough imagination and ingredients, by analogy with this recipe.

Delicious pilaf is not only made from rice. It turns out that this dish can also be prepared from pearl barley. We will need:

First of all, boil the bacon (you can stew it). Fry finely chopped onions and carrots, add pieces of bacon. After frying the bacon a little, spread the tomato paste previously made from tomatoes. Salt, pepper and pour in the broth remaining after cooking the bacon.

The following methods are suitable for preparing pearl barley: in water, in a slow cooker and in a double boiler. Place the prepared cereal in a saucepan or cauldron. Close the lid and, similar to standard pilaf, let the water boil away. Add butter. You can eat.

How to cook pearl barley as a side dish?

It is in this form that it goes well with many main courses and is much healthier, as we have already mentioned, than pasta or rice. In fact, all of the above methods are suitable here, except perhaps “with milk”.

If you are a complete beginner cook and are still at your best with kitchen utensils, then you can watch a video on how to cook cereal with milk or make pearl barley porridge with stewed meat. There are plenty of such videos on the global network.