Fry the pearl barley before cooking. Beneficial properties and harm of pearl barley porridge - how to cook according to recipes with photos in a saucepan, oven and slow cooker

Non-standard methods of cooking pearl barley

How to cook in a pressure cooker
1. Rinse and soak for 6-12 hours, drain the water and refill with fresh water 1:3.
2. Set the pressure valve of the pressure cooker to the “Closed” position and cook after building up the pressure for 20 minutes, then release the pressure naturally for 40 minutes.

How to cook pearl barley in the microwave
1. For 1 cup of pearl barley, take one and a half cups of salted boiled water and cook in a microwave-safe container, covered with a lid, for 25-30 minutes at a power of 400 W.
2. Place the processed pearl barley (in a bag) in a container with boiled salted water and cook in the microwave for 20 minutes at a power of 400 W.

How to cook pearl barley in a double boiler
1. Wash the pearl barley, drain off the vegetable matter, and place it in a steamer bowl.
2. Smooth out the pearl barley, add water and leave for 6-12 hours.
3. Make sure there is enough water in the liquid compartment.
4. Turn on the steamer for 1 hour (without soaking - 2 hours).
5. Add salt and stir the pearl barley - it is cooked.

How to cook pearl barley in bags
Cereals from bags do not need to be pre-soaked - they are already processed and after boiling they can be added to soups, side dishes or other dishes.
1. Place a bag of barley in a saucepan and add cold water so that the bag is covered with water with a margin of 1 centimeter.
2. Put the pan on the fire, wait until it boils and cook the barley in the bag for 45 minutes, covering with a lid.

Every sane person understands, or at least guesses, how useful porridge is. But in practice, we all prefer dishes that are more delicious and/or easier to prepare. And cereals, despite all their benefits and rich chemical composition, remain outsiders on the shelves. At best, we buy them and put them in the kitchen cabinet, pushing them further away on the shelf, behind the boxes of cereal, muesli and breakfast cereals. Meanwhile, including any porridge in your daily morning meal, without additional effort on your part, will improve your digestion, strengthen your immune system, strengthen your hair and nails and supply your body with vitamins and minerals.

Therefore, let's agree: starting tomorrow, no excuses will be accepted, and we will start eating porridge. And let’s seal our agreement with a useful skill: the ability to cook pearl barley so that it turns into a crumbly and appetizing porridge. Why pearl barley? Anyone can handle buckwheat and semolina, but pearl barley requires a special approach...

Chemical composition and benefits of pearl barley
The first feature of pearl barley is that you will not find it among cereals. But you will find barley - it is from its grains that pearl barley is made. But small barley “grains” are identified with it, but not everyone knows about the origin of pearl barley. However, from the point of view of the chemical composition, pearl barley is much more useful: unlike finely chopped barley, it consists of whole grains, peeled only from the hardest outer shells, often even unpolished. The result is a fairly large, chewy cereal that does not become soft during heat treatment. Fans of porridges with a delicate consistency have come up with many unpleasant nicknames for it, from “shrapnel” to “tarpaulin porridge”. Although pearl barley initially got its name from the Slavic word “pearl”, which has been preserved to this day in the Ukrainian language and means pearls. Take a closer look: the oblong grains are really similar to river pearls. And their value is also quite comparable.

Barley grains, that is, pearl barley, stands out among other cereals due to its very good ratio between proteins and carbohydrates (starch). The second feature of pearl barley is its exceptionally high content of phosphorus and silicic acid (compared to other cereals), which have a positive effect on metabolism, the activity of the brain and the nervous system as a whole. This explains why pearl barley is so often found on the menu of canteens of educational institutions, hospitals, children's health camps and, of course, military units: not at all because of its cheapness, but because of the richness of its chemical composition and strengthening properties. Barley polysaccharides reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood, the amino acid lysine is involved in the structure of muscle tissue, promotes the absorption of calcium and fights viruses. Vitamins A, E, D and group B improve vision, skin, hair and nails. By the way, the herpes virus is especially afraid of pearl barley. Like all toxic substances that are quickly removed from the body under the influence of pearl barley. This is confirmed by the experience of traditional healers who have long used barley decoction for poisoning and other diseases of the digestive system. Modern doctors prescribe it for those recovering from injuries and operations.

Cooking crumbly pearl barley porridge
So why is such a wonderful porridge in all respects not popular? Perhaps this is a contradiction in us from childhood - when we wanted ice cream, but our mother forced us to eat porridge. Or the school cooks are to blame, who did not know how to properly prepare and serve barley so that it would appeal to the little picky eaters. In any case, it's time to correct this misunderstanding. To do this, we have already prepared tips on how to cook barley correctly and how to prepare crumbly barley porridge - such that even the most capricious gourmets of any age will ask for more.

There are two varieties of pearl barley: classic pearl barley and Dutch pearl barley. The second is more thoroughly refined grains, which cook faster and turn into a softer porridge. Traditional pearl barley actually takes longer to prepare than other cereals, but this allows it to retain a high content of useful components. In soups, pearl barley always retains its shape, but in the form of porridge it requires careful chewing. The main conditions for delicious pearl barley are to spare no time and water. It will take time to pre-soak the cereal, and the water will have to be changed. All recipes for crumbly pearl barley are based on this:

1. Crumbly pearl barley on water. Take 1 cup of pearl barley, 1 liter of water for soaking the barley, 2.5 liters of water for cooking porridge, 4 tablespoons of butter, a pinch of salt. Sort the pearl barley and rinse it under running water. Then fill a bowl with 1 liter of water and leave for at least 4 hours, or better yet, overnight. In the morning, drain the water, rinse the cereal again, place it in a heavy saucepan and add 2.5 liters of fresh water, add salt and bring to a boil under the lid over medium heat. Then reduce the heat and cook the porridge for 50 minutes. After this, remove the pan from the heat, add oil to the porridge, stir and close the lid again. Cover the pot with barley with a large thick towel or blanket. Place in a warm place for 30-40 minutes. This is a basic recipe for making pearl barley. If you exclude oil from it, then it is ideal for diet food or fasting days during weight loss.
   
2. Sweet pearl barley with milk. Take 1 glass of pearl barley, 1 liter of yogurt for soaking the cereal, 2 liters of milk for cooking porridge, 50 grams of butter, sugar to taste. Rinse the cereal and soak it overnight in a liter of cold yogurt. In the morning or after 8-10 hours, drain the yogurt and rinse the cereal again. Bring the milk and sugar to a boil in a thick-bottomed saucepan, put the barley in it and cook covered for 5-10 minutes. During this time, prepare a water bath: pour water into a wider saucepan or metal basin, pour water to a third of its height and bring to a boil. Place the pan with porridge inside and simmer over low heat for at least 4 hours. Periodically, as it boils, add water to the lower bowl. When the porridge is ready, add butter, stir and leave covered for another half hour. This pearl barley turns out to be very aromatic, with a creamy aftertaste - those with a sweet tooth and even children love it.
   
3. Crumbly pearl barley with meat and mushrooms. Take 1 cup of pearl barley, 1 liter of water for soaking the barley, 3 liters of water for cooking porridge, 1 large onion, 200 grams of beef or pork, 200 grams of fresh mushrooms (or an equivalent amount of dried and pre-soaked), 50 grams of butter, 1 a tablespoon of vegetable oil, a pinch of salt and any dried spices. In the evening, rinse and soak the cereal in 1 liter of cold water. In the morning, rinse the pearl barley again, place it in a heavy saucepan and cover with 3 liters of fresh water. Cook the porridge covered over low heat for 3-4 hours. Then remove from the stove, mix the pearl barley with butter, wrap in a thick towel and place in a warm place for half an hour. Meanwhile, chop the onion, meat and mushrooms into small pieces. Heat the vegetable oil in a cast iron frying pan, fry the onion for 2 minutes, then add the meat, mushrooms and fry until tender. Salt, add spices and place pearl barley porridge into the frying pan. Stir, cover and simmer over low heat for another 5 minutes.
   

Pearl barley is a unique cereal that is useful for both adults and children. You can cook many dishes based on it and they will all be tasty and varied. Many people don’t like pearl barley for only one reason - it takes a long time to cook. Today I want to talk about how to cook pearl barley porridge in water without soaking. Using this recipe, you will quickly cook pearl barley and, I am sure, you will be pleased with the result. After all, the porridge turns out tasty and crumbly. Try it!

Ingredients

To prepare pearl barley in water without soaking you will need:
pearl barley - 1 cup;
water - 4.5-5 glasses;
salt - 0.5 tsp;
vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l.

Cooking steps

Pour 3 cups of cold water into the pan, add the washed pearl barley.

Bring to a boil and cook the pearl barley over low heat for 5-7 minutes from the moment it boils.

Then drain the water and place the cereal in a colander.

Rinse the pan, pour in 1.5-2 cups of water, add salt and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, and boil. Add the pearl barley and cook until the liquid has completely evaporated over low heat with the lid slightly open, stirring (about 20-25 minutes).

Pearl barley comes in different varieties, so the cooking time may increase by another 10 minutes. If I cook pearl barley porridge as a side dish, I simply add ghee or butter to the cooked porridge. I wrap the pan and let the porridge brew for about 10-15 minutes. Barley cooked in water without pre-soaking turns out tasty and crumbly.

If I boil pearl barley to prepare a first course (pickle soup, for example), then I put the boiled ready-made cereal in a colander and rinse it (so that the soup does not become cloudy in the future). I also freeze ready-made pearl barley for first courses: I cool it and pack it in bags. It’s very convenient to take a bag of such boiled cereal out of the freezer and quickly cook a pickle. I also cook this porridge for my husband for fishing. Try it!!!
Delicious and pleasant moments!

What picture opens up to your eyes when you hear the words “barley porridge”? Army canteen? A box of bait for fishing? A plate of semi-edible cereal that takes a long, long time to chew?
If yes, this means that you have never tried pearl barley porridge prepared in accordance with technology.

History of use and benefits of pearl barley

Barley is one of the oldest agricultural crops. Growing wild, it was eaten almost twenty thousand years ago, and began to be cultivated 10,000 years ago. The unpretentious and healthy grain was used as food, it was fed to livestock, drinks were made from it, it also served as a standard of weight, length, a measure of wealth, and a unit of calculation.

Nowadays, barley has lost its importance in cooking, giving way to easier-to-prepare dishes; however, pearl barley is always on sale and is an excellent choice for preparing budget-friendly and very healthy dishes.

Pearl barley is whole grains of barley, peeled from the outer shell in which they are located in the spikelet. These grains are simply an incredible storehouse of valuable substances necessary for the human body (among them, it is worth mentioning phosphorus, a mineral extremely important for the functioning of muscle fibers and for the absorption of calcium, as well as lysine, which is involved in the formation of collagen).

The nutritional value of pearl barley porridge and its benefits increase with proper heat treatment, which facilitates the digestion process.

How to cook pearl barley porridge

Depending on the cooking method, from the same grain you can get either “poor man’s pilaf” or the most delicate, caramel, royal porridge. However, in both forms, pearl barley finds its admirers, and it is definitely worth striving for a soft, boiled mass only for reasons of its better digestibility.

The canonical method of preparing pearl barley can be considered a long but extremely “effective” process described in Pokhlebkin’s book “The Great Encyclopedia of Culinary Art.” In it, the author not only describes the technology, but sings an ode to pearl barley porridge, in particular, explaining how this simple and unpretentious dish could have been the favorite food of the great monarch Peter I.

So, according to Pokhlebkin, pearl barley should be treated like legumes and thoroughly boiled, and for this, first soaked in cold water for 12 hours.

Pearl barley porridge with milk. The perfect recipe

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. pearl barley
1 liter of water for pre-soaking
2 liters of milk

Bad grains and impurities are removed from cereals intended for cooking and soaked in cold water. It is better to plan soaking overnight, so it should last at least 10 hours (ideally 12), and after that the porridge will slowly cook for another 6 hours.

After 10-12 hours, the water that the cereal did not take is drained and the barley is filled with milk. Bring the porridge to a boil and simmer without a lid for 5 minutes, and then remove the saucepan from the heat and transfer it to a water bath. In a water bath with water slowly boiling, pearl barley porridge should be cooked for 6 hours.

The water bath itself is not any special preparation condition. In modern realities, it can be completely replaced by slow simmering in a multicooker or simmering over low heat in a saucepan with a non-stick coating or double bottom. The original recipe suggests a water bath as a cooking method in which the milk and cereal do not burn at the bottom, and the milk has no chance of “escaping.”

The cooking process, although very long, is not labor-intensive, and the end result is a very delicate dish in the form of a soft paste with a subtle caramel taste.

By the way, pearl barley porridge is not only tasty, but also a balanced dish. Cereals are rich in protein, but vegetable protein has an incomplete set of amino acids, so adding milk (and with it the missing amino acids) restores their balance, making them better absorbed and better used by the body. Also, the calcium present in milk is well absorbed due to the large amount of phosphorus contained in pearl barley.

Pearl barley porridge with meat

Meat, like milk, perfectly complements the vegetable protein contained in barley and increases the protein value of the dish.
Pearl barley porridge with meat can be prepared either soft or crumbly. In the first case, the cereal must be soaked, just like for the milk porridge described above.

Recipe for soft pearl barley porridge with meat

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. cereals
1 liter of water for soaking
0.5 kg meat
1 onion
1 carrot
1 bay leaf
hot and sweet peppers, salt, dried garlic and herbs to taste

The washed cereal is soaked overnight in a liter of water. After 12 hours, the water is drained, the cereal is washed again and boiled in water over very low heat for 50 minutes.

While the cereal is cooking, prepare the meat part separately. For it, pieces of meat are fried until well crusted, chopped onions and grated carrots are added to the frying pan and everything is fried together for a few minutes.

Place boiled cereal without water in a frying pan with meat and vegetables, level the mass in the frying pan and add enough water to cover the contents of the frying pan by 2 cm. Immediately add spices, cover the frying pan with a lid and simmer the dish over low heat until the free liquid completely disappears (approximately 40 minutes).

With this method of preparation, the finished pearl barley porridge turns out soft and tender.

Friable pearl barley porridge with meat

To get crumbly porridge, you need to reduce the time for soaking the cereal (but not eliminate soaking completely) and reduce the cooking or stewing time.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. cereals
0.5 l water for soaking
0.5 kg meat
1 onion
1 carrot
1 tbsp. l. tomato paste
salt and spices to taste

The cereal is soaked for 2-3 hours in cold water, then the water is drained.
The meat is fried with carrots and onions and simmered until cooked, adding a little water, tomato paste, salt and spices.

The water in which the pearl barley was soaked is drained, the barley is transferred to a saucepan or cauldron, mixed with the meat part, and water is added in such an amount that it exceeds the level of the barley by 1 cm. Salt for the barley is added. Simmer over low heat until the liquid has completely evaporated.

Pearl barley porridge in a slow cooker

The multicooker makes it very easy to prepare pearl barley porridge, since the cereal does not stick to the bottom and does not burn, and the presence of special modes for cooking cereals among its functions allows the cook to “eliminate” from participating in the process.
However, pearl barley still needs to be soaked before cooking.

The simplest recipe for pearl barley porridge in a slow cooker

Pearl barley porridge can be prepared in a slow cooker as the simplest side dish for hot meat, mushroom and fish dishes.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. cereals
4.5 Art. water (for cooking)
50 g butter
salt

The washed cereal is soaked overnight. The specified amount of pearl barley must be poured into at least three glasses of water.
In the morning, wash the cereal again, transfer it to a slow cooker, add water and half the oil.
To make pearl barley porridge in a multicooker soft, but with separate grains, it needs to be cooked for about an hour on the “Porridge”, “Pilaf” or “Grains” mode (depending on the model of the multicooker).
At the end of cooking, add the remaining oil.

Compatibility of pearl barley porridge with other products. Pearl barley diet

Barley contains a lot of plant fiber, which is useful for normal digestion, but is almost not absorbed by the body and irritates the intestines. Taking this into account, pearl barley porridge should not be consumed together with raw vegetables and fruits, which also contain coarse fiber, so as not to increase the load on the intestines and its irritation.

Products that should not be combined with pearl barley porridge:
white and red cabbage, raw carrots, radishes, radishes, pears, apple peels, juices with pulp, bran, dried fruits, black bread, “live” kefir and yogurt.

Useful combinations with pearl barley:
boiled lean sea fish, boiled beets, cauliflower and broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers, peeled fruits, pureed.

Pearl barley diet
Based on pearl barley porridge, you can arrange a short mono-diet or use it for a fasting day. To do this, you need to divide a liter of cooked pearl barley or barley into 6 servings and eat it throughout the day, washing it down with unsweetened drinks (do not add salt and sugar to the porridge either).

What else to cook with pearl barley

Pearl barley is good not only for side dishes or main courses, but also for preparing various soups. Pearl barley soups with mushrooms, chicken, and tomatoes are very tasty.
Well-known dishes to which pearl barley is added include rassolniki and kutya. Lesser known ones include mushrooms and tomatoes stuffed with pearl barley, solyanka, and pearl barley risotto.

See, for example,
It’s also worth trying vegetable salads with the addition of a small amount of hard-cooked pearl barley grains - they not only enrich the taste of the salads, but also give you a feeling of fullness after a light breakfast.

In conclusion...

Pearl barley porridge is a healthy dietary dish that should appear in the diet from time to time. It normalizes digestion and stool, is a valuable source of protein, and thanks to low glycemic index (total 22) Carbohydrates absorbed from food are immediately consumed and do not turn into fat.

The abundance of dietary fiber in pearl barley makes it a porridge a kind of brush that passes through the intestinal tract, mechanically collecting and removing toxic substances and harmful deposits from the body.

People who do not like pearl barley dishes should change their attitude towards them by choosing other recipes so as not to miss out on one of the most accessible food sources of vigor and well-being.

Many people underestimate pearl barley, considering it tasteless. It only turns out this way when cooked incorrectly. To make this cereal crumbly and tasty, it must be cooked for a long time - from one to two hours, and sometimes even more. It all depends on the quality of the cereal and the method of preparation. The degree of readiness is determined by the type and consistency of the pearl barley - the finished cereal turns out soft, swollen, grain to grain.

To reduce the cooking time for barley, you need to pre-soak it in water. First, rinse the cereal well until the water is as clear as possible. Fill it with water in the following proportion: per glass of pearl barley – one liter of water. Soaking time is 10-12 hours. However, it can be reduced to 3-4 hours.

Barley will turn out much tastier if soak it in whey or sour milk. If you cook it for dietary nutrition, cook the cereal only in water.

How to cook pearl barley after soaking

You can cook pearl barley in different ways. The most common is cooking in a saucepan. To do this, rinse the swollen cereal and fill it with water at the rate of 2 liters of liquid per glass of pearl barley. An important nuance is that the water should be cold, even ice-cold. Bring the cereal to a boil and simmer over low heat for 45-60 minutes. Remove the pan from the stove, wrap it well with a warm blanket or towel and leave it like that for half an hour. During this time, the cereal will harden well and become more tender.

Do not forget to take into account that the volume of pearl barley increases approximately 5-6 times during cooking. That is why cook the cereal in a spacious pan. Add butter and salt at the very end of cooking.

How to cook dry pearl barley

You can cook pearl barley without pre-soaking. To do this, rinse the pearl barley thoroughly, add water at the rate of 4 cups of liquid per cup of cereal, place over high heat and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and cook the cereal under a closed lid for two hours. Check the pearl barley periodically to ensure that all the water has not boiled away. Let the finished cereal simmer under the lid for half an hour.

There is another way to prepare pearl barley. Bring the cereal to a boil, as in the previous method, and then set it to finish cooking in a water bath. At the same time, always keep the lid of the pan with barley closed.

Crumbly pearl barley will become An excellent side dish for fish or meat. In addition, it can be used in appetizers and salads, as well as in soups - mushroom, fish, meat. The most popular barley soup is rassolnik. However, it must be remembered that you should not add raw pearl barley to soups - the dish may acquire an unappetizing bluish tint. It’s better to pre-cook it until half cooked and add it to the soup halfway through cooking.

It is recommended to use pearl barley hot. In this case, it is not only tasty, but also more beneficial for the body. Nutritionists say that cooled pearl barley is less beneficial and is less easily absorbed by the body.