Susan Hart Recipe: Pearl barley summer salad

Today’s Susan Hart recipe is a summer salad for the warm weather!

Pearl Barley is high in fibre, calcium and protein, but low in fat and calories. It has a nutty flavour and chewy texture. And in this salad it makes a pleasant change from quinoa or couscous. So don’t confine that packet of pearl barley in the back of the cupboard to only winter stews, casseroles and soups.  It is an all year round marvel.  If you don’t have the time to cook the barley, then a quick cheat is to use a microwavable pre-cooked packet.

Servings 2, 165 calories per serving

50 g raw or 160 g cooked Pearl Barley
1 tsp Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon Powder
250ml boiling water
¼ tsp Crushed Red Chilli Flakes or ½ a red chilli finely chopped
80 g Cucumber, chopped
80 g carrot, grated
80 g (1 medium) fresh tomato, chopped
80 g (½ ) Yellow Pepper, chopped
5 g (10 leaves), Mint Leaves, chopped
5 g (small handful) Parsley, chopped
2 tsp, olive oil
1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar or lemon juice
½ tsp Wholegrain Mustard
large pinch ground black pepper

If you don’t want to calorie count you don’t have to be so exact with the veggies.  But stick to the weight for the pearl barley

Place a medium sized saucepan on to the heat and add the pearl barley. Toast for 2 minutes, until they start to smell malty. Add the powder to the water and stir. Then quickly add to the toasted grains

Be careful as the pan will be very hot and will bubble furiously
Add the chilli flakes. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 50 minutes

Meanwhile chop all the veg and herbs.
Prepare the dressing by mixing the oil, vinegar, pepper and mustard. Taste and adjust the flavours as necessary
When the barley is cooked (it should still have a bite) let it cool before adding in the vegetables, herbs and dressing
Mix well and serve in two bowls

Additions
½ a tin of chickpeas – 135 calories
28g of unsalted cashew nuts – 164 calories
2 quorn fillets – 110 calories