In childhood, everyone turned up their noses at this cereal, but then we did not understand its benefits, but it is time to reconsider our attitude to barley. And therefore, you need to know how to cook friable barley correctly and for how many minutes.

There are many recipes - on water without soaking, or porridge from it, in a slow cooker, pressure cooker or pan, observing the proportions. Only with the development of these culinary skills, our diet will become not only useful, but also incredibly tasty, and the cooking process itself will be a joy.

Shrapnel, bolts, shot 16, tarpaulin, all these names are firmly attached to pearl barley - the most popular army porridge. But for some reason today barley appears on our civilian tables very, very rarely.

And in vain, because a whole vitamin-mineral complex is concentrated in these grains. This is a set of amino acids we need, which together act as the most effective drug for influenza and acute respiratory infections. But even the scriptures mentioned this cereal, and the royal people did not disdain such a hearty dinner.

Or maybe the whole point is that we simply do not know how to cook it? That is why today's article is devoted to how to properly cook pearl barley or simply pearl barley. However, before we plunge into the world of cooking with all its mysteries, let's study some of the nuances associated with this cereal.

Diet barley porridge

For some reason, over the years, it has been believed that barley is the latest cereal crop that can be used in a dietary diet. Yes, it is difficult to argue here when the facts indicate that in dry form 100 g of barley pull almost 320 kcal. But who eats uncooked grain?

But a rich porridge from these cereals has only 120 calories, besides, it is very, very nutritious, rich in fiber and complex carbohydrates, which is required for a diet or lean diet.

Few people know that pearl barley should be eaten only hot, because this way it is better absorbed by the body. And yes, it tastes better.

Proportions of cereals and water for perfect barley porridge

In the process of cooking barley, in order to achieve a good result, it is necessary to observe the proportions of the components. However, in this matter, it is necessary to turn to your wishes and decide what consistency of the dish we want to get in the end.

This will determine how much dry matter and liquid we need. If the priority is crumbly pearl barley for garnish, then the ratio of water and pearl barley will be 1: 2½. However, for lovers of viscous porridge per glass of grain, you should take about one liter of water.

Barley is, perhaps, one of those cereals, the preparation of which should be started long before the meal, because it is cooked in time for about an hour, and to be more precise, from 40 to 100 minutes.

However, it is impossible to specify a specific cooking period, because it can vary depending on many factors.

• Type of pot.
• Cooking method.
• pre-soak.
• Grain varieties.
• Grain sizes.

In addition, the age of barley can also affect the cooking speed, because the longer it is stored, the longer it will take to heat treat. However, experienced housewives say that you can make excellent porridge much faster. To do this, you need to wait until the pearl barley in the water boils. After that, drain the water, fill the container with liquid again and cook the dish until cooked at medium temperature.

But why, why complicate everything so much, when you can simply soak the grains in boiling water for several hours and after that it won’t even take half an hour for the whole culinary epic.

How to cook pearl barley (barley porridge) on water correctly and how long, video recipe

In the old days, barley porridge was served at the royal table. In men, it is associated with a tasteless army mess. We offer an algorithm on how to cook pearl barley in order to preserve its beneficial properties and make porridge crumbly.

How to cook barley with barley soaking

Pearl barley, unlike other cereals, is cooked for quite a long time. To quickly cook barley, the right solution is to pre-soak it overnight in warm water. Due to this, the cereal will be saturated with liquid. Then you can cook a delicious and healthy breakfast in a matter of minutes.

How to do it? Simply, well-washed cereals should be placed in a deepened container and poured with boiling water, based on a ratio of 1: 4. Well, if you determine “by eye”, then you need to take as much water as it takes to ensure that the grains are covered by 4 cm, and they need to be soaked for 5 hours.

How to steam pearl barley in a thermos

In addition, there is another great way to cook. It not only significantly speeds up the process of subsequent cooking of whole barley grains, but also allows you to cook delicious friable barley without worries and hassle. And here's the secret. Before you boil the cereal, you need to pour it with boiling water in a thermos for an hour and a half. Then transfer to a saucepan, add liquid and cook for 20 minutes.

And if 8 tbsp. pour 700 ml of freshly boiled water in a thermos and leave overnight, then by morning we will have excellent porridge. It remains only to flavor it with salt or sugar and butter.

The choice of a container for cooking should be approached with all seriousness, since barley is significantly distributed in volume during the heat treatment process. And if during soaking it swells twice, then the boiled cereal increases five times, threatening to fall out over the edge of an improperly selected saucepan.

Well, now, having learned all the details of barley cooking, we can go directly to the methods and recipes for preparing this cereal.

How delicious to cook pearl barley for a side dish

Despite such unpopularity, pearl barley is included in many of our favorite dishes, both in the first and in the second. For example, this cereal makes an excellent side dish, the main thing is to be able to cook it correctly.

1. To cook a truly tasty, crumbly, lush barley, you should first soak the washed cereal (1 tbsp.) In boiling water (2 l) for several hours.
2. After that, put the swollen and washed grains in a saucepan, pour fresh water (1 l) and set on maximum heat.
3. After boiling, let the barley cook for about 5 minutes, after which we reduce the heat, close the container with a lid and cook the porridge until tender (30 minutes).
4. When the water evaporates and the cereal becomes soft, add 50 grams of butter to it, add salt to the garnish to taste and, under a closed lid, let the porridge sweat a little more.

Milk porridge from pearl barley

Every soldier and kindergartner knows firsthand what a proper breakfast looks like. There is no doubt that for a healthy nourishment of the body at the beginning of the working day, the best solution would be to cook barley porridge. And this recipe is perfect for this action:

1. The preparation of a milk breakfast from pearl barley should begin with soaking the grains (2 cups) in boiling water (2 l), or with their preliminary and short (10 minutes) boiling in water.
2. Next, we wash the slightly boiled cereals and drain them on a sieve.
3. Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, mix 1.5 cups of water and 3 cups of milk. Next, we shift the pearl barley and 30 g of butter into the liquid. We also fall asleep in a container of ½ tsp. salt, 1.5 tbsp. sugar, after which we put everything to cook on low heat under the lid until the porridge thickens.
4. And then add another 20 grams of oil and, wrapping the hot porridge in a pan in a blanket, let the dish brew for a while. But if unbearable, then you can immediately proceed to the meal.

Delicious pearl barley in a slow cooker

Over the past decade, the progress of kitchen equipment has been significantly modernized, and now the presence of a multicooker in the house does not surprise anyone. And such popularity of these intelligent pans is quite understandable. They practically prepare the dish themselves, we just have to load it with the necessary products and set the desired program.

In addition, it will not be difficult for this unit to cook delicious friable barley for breakfast or a side dish. In this miracle pan, even soaking barley has its advantages. If you pour dry cereal with water and leave it overnight in the heating mode, then by morning you can get crumbly porridge. This can be equated to the effect of a thermos. But again, it is necessary to take into account the proportions of water. In this case, 1 multi glass of grain will require 3 multi glasses of liquid.

But this is only one of the possible options for cooking this cereal. And this recipe will tell you how tasty it is to cook friable barley on the water, say, for lunch.

• We will need the following products: pearl barley (2 cups), water (4.5 cups), ghee (50 g), salt (1 tsp).
• Barley must first be thoroughly washed so that the water becomes clear.
• After that, having loaded all the ingredients into the bowl of the device, close its lid and set the “buckwheat” or “rice” program. In our case, porridge will be cooked in a Redmond multicooker, so you need to keep in mind that some programs and characteristics of units from other companies may differ.
• The discrepancy can even concern the cooking timer. For example, on average, barley in a slow cooker is cooked for about 1 hour without pre-soaking. However, how much time it will take for this procedure for the device of a particular company, it is worth clarifying in the annotation to the device.
• After cooking is complete, it is necessary that the porridge “breathe” with the lid open so that excess moisture evaporates.

This is how you can easily and naturally prepare an excellent side dish. However, this is not all the possibilities of this saucepan regarding this cereal, because barley in a slow cooker turns out to be even tastier with milk.

To prepare porridge in a slow cooker of any company, the same proportions for milk and dry product (3: 1) are always used, based on which we will select the components. And all the details on how to cook barley porridge in milk in a slow cooker are described in this recipe.

Ingredients

• Barley - 1 cup;
• Milk - 3 cups;
• Sugar - 2 tablespoons;
• Salt - ½ tsp;
• Oil - 2 tablespoons;

Lazy barley cooked in a slow cooker

1. Before you start cooking, barley must be thoroughly washed and soaked for 2-3 hours in boiling water.
2. After that, we wash the swollen grains again and, together with milk, salt, sugar and butter, load them into the bowl of the unit.
3. Having set the “stewing” program for 3 hours, we can safely go about our business, and the slow cooker will prepare an excellent breakfast or dinner by itself.

Loose barley in a pressure cooker

Undoubtedly, cooking in a slow cooker is very, very convenient, especially for busy housewives, but this unit cannot be compared with an intelligent pressure cooker. This device, like no other, copes with the task clearly and quickly, which makes it the number one of all assistants in the kitchen.

This amazing cooking speed is achieved through high-pressure cooking, which also has the most beneficial effect on the preservation of nutrients in the products.

The recipe for how to properly cook barley for a side dish in a pressure cooker is similar to the cooking technology in a slow cooker, however, there are some nuances here:

• For 1 cup of soaked cereal, you need only 2 cups of water or milk;
• Having loaded the cereal and water into the bowl of the apparatus, bring everything to a boil, anoint with salt, sugar and butter to taste, and only then close the lid and set the program “cooking”, “porridge”, “buckwheat”, “rice” or any other, according to instructions for the device.
• Cooking time for porridge is only 15 minutes.

How to cook barley porridge in a double boiler

The question is, why, with so many convenient and smart gadgets in the kitchen that show excellent culinary results, steam barley?

It's very simple, none of even the most delicate cooking methods can cook a side dish like a double boiler does. Delicate and crumbly, neither dry, not sticky, retaining the maximum vitamins in itself - this is truly the perfect barley porridge, which you will not find better, no matter how much you look.

However, this technique still has its drawbacks, such as the fact that barley is prepared with steam for a long time, about an hour and a half. But this is still no reason to retreat before such a healthy and tasty delicacy.

• To prepare a side dish, you need to take 2.5 cups of water for 1 cup of cereal soaked overnight.
• We load the components into a double boiler cup, close the lid of the unit and set the timer for 40 minutes.
• After the allotted time, the cereal should be salted or sweetened, if we want milk porridge, then add 1 glass of milk, after which we again set the mode for 40 minutes and bring the dish to readiness.

Step by step cooking barley in the microwave

Barley recipes for garnish are truly amazing in their diversity. And the point is not so much in a wide range of various aromatic additives, but in what kind of cooking method we choose. Thanks to kitchen gadgets, this long-term cooking has appeared for us in a different light, and the quick preparation of barley porridge has become a real gift.

For example, pearl barley takes only 35 minutes to cook in the microwave, while it takes twice as long to cook in a pot. And this is encouraging. However, it is necessary to approach the microwave cooking technology armed with this recipe.

Ingredients

• Barley - 230 g;
• Water - 630 ml;
• Salt - ½ - 1 tsp;
• Butter - 2 tablespoons;

How to quickly and tasty cook barley porridge at home

1. We spread the soaked barley in a microwave container, fill it with water and, under a closed lid (with a hole), cook the porridge for 5 minutes at full power.
2. After that, we take out the container, mix the cereal, salt, season with oil and send it to cook again, but already for half an hour and at medium power.
3. In the process of cooking, the side dish should be mixed several times so that the porridge is boiled evenly.

In the microwave oven, you can also cook delicious barley porridge with milk. To do this, put 1 cup of soaked cereal in a microwave container, pour everything with 1.5 cups of hot milk, salt and sweeten to taste. Next, close the container with a lid (with an open valve) and cook breakfast for 20 minutes at a power of 400 watts.

Super-healthy and delicious barley in a pot in the oven

The craving for healthy eating today has become a real boom. On this basis, dear hostesses, anxiously caring for the well-being of their family, begin to actively include raw vegetables, cereals, steamed or in pots in the menu.

It was this trend that inspired us to prepare something similar. How about barley on chicken broth in pots in the oven? This recipe does not take much time, but it would seem that a simple dish turns out to be incredibly tasty and healthy.

Ingredients

• Pearl barley - 1 cup;
• Chicken broth - 2 l;
• Coarse salt - 1-1.5 tsp;
• Powdered black pepper - ¼ tsp;
• Dry garlic - ½ tsp;

How to cook healthy barley porridge

1. Soaked overnight and doubled in volume, we thoroughly wash the grits and lay them out in ceramic containers, filling them by 1/3. Given that the average portion pot has a volume of 0.75 liters, then we need 4 such containers, where each of them will have 0.5 tbsp. barley.
2. Next, pour the grits with salted and spiced broth, 0.5 liters into each container, and put the ceramic containers closed with lids into the oven.
3. At a temperature of 190 ° C, porridge will be cooked for 60 minutes, and before serving, the dish must be flavored with butter and herbs.

In principle, you can cook barley in pots on the water. And what an awesome milk porridge is obtained in the oven from this cereal, just like from a Russian oven. But in this case, the proportions of grain and liquid, and the cooking technology itself, will look somewhat different.

1. For 1 cup of cereal, we need 1 liter of milk, 40 grams of butter, ½ tsp. salt and 1-2 tbsp. Sahara.
2. We thoroughly wash the grain and boil in a saucepan for 20 minutes. You can also soak the cereal overnight in water instead of boiling it, or steam it for an hour in boiling water in a thermos.
3. After that, we transfer the barley to a saucepan with boiling milk, add some salt, sweeten it and cook for 15 minutes.
4. After that, pour the semi-finished porridge with milk into pots with a ladle, flavor it with oil and send it to the oven for half an hour at 190 ° C.

And after 30 minutes we can enjoy a great breakfast with the aroma of baked milk.

"Perle", which means "pearl" in French, it was with this word that the most popular army porridge was once dubbed. And the point is not even that barley grain really looks like this marine jewel, but that it is pearl barley that is truly the pearl of a healthy diet. And it was precisely for this that Peter 1 loved her very much at one time.

Unfortunately, today many hostesses have forgotten how to cook barley porridge deliciously. But let's hope that the suggested tips will still help regain lost skills on how to properly cook barley using modern kitchen gadgets and some culinary tricks.

Pearl barley is a real pearl in the diet, it fully justifies its name (“pearl” from the old Russian - pearls). Barley is a whole grain of barley that has been devoid of grain shells. Due to the low degree of processing, it retains all the beneficial properties of barley. Therefore, all nutritionists agree that "pearl" cereals are one of the tasty and healthy dishes, the main thing is to know the secrets and ways of how to cook pearl barley porridge properly.

Barley: healthy, tasty and inexpensive

The cost of this cereal is so low that it will fit into the budget of any family!

However, the benefits are enormous:

• indispensable for constipation, as it perfectly cleanses and stimulates the intestines;
• it relieves inflammation of the mucous membranes of the digestive organs;
• reduces the level of "bad" cholesterol;
• due to the high content of vitamins A, E, B, which remain even after cooking, strengthens the immune system;
• contributes to the destruction of stones and other deposits in the ducts of internal organs;
• improves cerebral circulation and has an antioxidant effect; replenishes the level of iron and amino acids.

Barley is often boiled in broth, even rich, strong bone broth is suitable. Mushroom and vegetable broths are also good. But these methods of preparing barley porridge are far from the norms of proper nutrition, and with frequent use, they at least harm the figure.

Boiling with milk is a little more useful, but also not suitable for those who monitor weight and follow a diet with a minimum content of animal fats. For children, barley in milk is ideal.

The best option for preparing this cereal for adhering to the norms of proper nutrition is cooking on water. And if you know how to properly cook pearl barley porridge on water, proportions, some subtleties, then a hearty breakfast or lunch is easy to prepare. But then you can add anything to such a side dish: chicken, vegetables, mushrooms, fish, dried fruits or fresh fruits.

The classic way to cook pearl barley

The classic way to cook pearl barley for a side dish is simple.

The cereal turns out to be somewhat boiled, it is well saturated with the juice of an additional dish.

It is poured with hot water and boiled over low heat for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Perhaps this cereal is cooked longer than the others, for example, it can be done in just 15 minutes.

Do not add water, you should immediately pour the right amount.

Adding water during the cooking process impairs the taste and appearance of the dish.

Proportions for friable - for 1 cup barley you need 2.5 cups of water.

It will serve as an excellent addition to tender poultry meat, offal. It is very tasty to serve barley on the water as a side dish for stewed vegetables (tomatoes, zucchini, sweet peppers, onions, carrots, eggplants stewed with olive oil, garlic and herbs). This combination meets the dietary requirements of most diets.

By the way, the calorie content of boiled barley porridge is 80-90 kcal! That is, a huge portion of 250 g will fit perfectly into the calorie content of any meal.

Without soaking and pre-boiling barley is good to cook in a slow cooker or in a pot in the oven. In the first case, the cereals are thoroughly washed, put into the multicooker bowl, poured with water (it is better to look at the proportions of cereals and water in the instructions for the multicooker, but there should be at least three parts of water per one part of the cereal). Then you need to close the lid, set the "Cereals" or "Porridge" mode. Cooking time in a slow cooker - 50 minutes. After that, salt, seasonings are put into the porridge and kept in the "Heating" mode for 15-20 minutes.

Washed barley is poured into pots, poured with warm boiled water (normal proportions) and put in a cold oven. Gradual heating makes the porridge tasty and rich in flavor.

Soaking

The soaking method allows you to cook barley porridge correctly and quickly. Groats are partially cooked during soaking, which reduces the cooking time. Everything is also simple here:

• you need to pour the cereal with boiled water and leave for an hour. If you fill the cereal with cold water, then the soaking time increases to 10 hours;
• after the water is drained, the swollen cereal is washed well;
• everything is filled with hot water;
• cook on low heat under a lid.

Usually pearl barley is cooked for 60-90 minutes, but already pre-soaked - 20-30 minutes.

The fastest and easiest way to properly boil barley porridge in water is to cook in bags. It's simply impossible to go wrong. Cooking time for packaged porridge is 40-45 minutes. Groats are pre-steamed and therefore everything happens faster.

Cook barley in 2 sets

How to cook crumbly barley porridge? If everything is clear with cooking buckwheat (the main thing is to keep the proportions), then even accuracy will not always help with barley, the very high gluten content in this cereal.

You will have to tinker a little and cook in 2 stages, but the result is always excellent.

Groats without pre-soaking over medium heat are boiled in boiling water for about a quarter of an hour, then washed with cold water.

Then again pour boiling water in a ratio of 1: 1, add half a spoonful of vegetable oil, salt and cook until cooked under a closed lid on a minimum heat for about 40 minutes.

Secrets of delicious pearl barley

• Choose high-quality cereals: the color of the grains is golden, with a grayish tint; the smell is fragrant, grainy: nothing should stick together, and the production date should not be more than 2 years ago.
• It is not necessary to cook barley for so long, you can turn off the fire 15 minutes earlier, but immediately wrap the pan with a blanket. After 2-3 hours, the porridge is ready. It turns out tastier and more aromatic.

Video about the benefits of pearl barley

Famous nutritionists and doctors strongly recommend introducing healthy and simple porridge into the diet:

Perlovka is often associated with the army or places not so remote - the stereotype about it has developed so strongly as about cheap food and designed for the segments of the population not spoiled with delicacies. Meanwhile, it is known for certain that Peter I loved pearl barley, although what to expect from him: he was a martinet from birth. But our last general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeevich, they say, simply loves pearl barley. And all because cereal dishes have a high nutritional value, and barley porridge itself is very tasty. The main thing is to cook it correctly, but not knowing how much barley is cooked in time, it is not so easy to do this.

How to cook barley deliciously, preserving the benefits

Barley and yachka are sisters, as they are made from the same type of grain: barley. However, if the cell is crushed, then the barley grains are left intact. So the benefits remain in them, however, it is difficult to cook grains to a pleasant edible state.

How long barley is cooked in time depends on the dish for which it is required, and whether the cereal was prepared for cooking.

On a note! The average cooking time for pearl barley is from 50 to 120 minutes.

Barley can be cooked perfectly tasty and crumbly, if you pre-soak the cereal in cold water for at least a couple of hours, and preferably overnight. Then you can treat yourself to friable and healthy porridge in the morning: barley will boil faster than usual. After about an hour, the porridge is ready.

If there is no time for soaking, you can wash the grits in several cold waters and boil. But you have to wait: saving time on soaking, this cannot be done on cooking. The porridge will cook in about two hours.

It turns out very tasty if you cook barley in a water bath, under a tightly closed lid. But you have to be patient: the cooking process will take about 6 hours! But it's worth it!

Elementary: how to cook barley on water

Perhaps the most important thing to learn in this "barley" business is how to cook barley on the water.

The first thing to do is to rinse the cereal well, and, pouring cold water, let it brew for a longer time. Then drain the old water, pour new hot water in a ratio of 1:3 and cook over low heat. How much barley is cooked depends on the volume of cereals and water, on average, in an hour the porridge is ready.

It is possible not to soak pearl barley, if you know how to cook pearl barley in water without soaking. To do this, dry cereals need to be washed well, and, pouring water (3 cups of water per glass of pearl barley), bring to a boil over high heat. After reducing the heat to a minimum, and under a tight lid, cook barley for about 2 hours. Stir periodically and add water if it boils away to avoid burning. Salt barley should be closer to the end of cooking, add oil to taste in the finished porridge. Then it would be good to wrap the pan with a towel and simmer barley porridge for half an hour.

This pearl barley is an excellent side dish for any meat or poultry, fish or mushrooms. And yet - this is an excellent basis for cabbage rolls or pilaf.

Stuffed cabbage rolls

Ingredients:

• ready-made friable barley - 1.5 cups;
• minced pork and beef - 300g;
• onion and one carrot;
• garlic - 3 teeth;
• fresh favorite greens;
• cabbage leaves from 2 medium heads;
• fat sour cream and ketchup - 3 tablespoons each;
• salt and ground black pepper to taste;
• a pinch of flour dried in a frying pan.

1. Chop the onion and grate the carrots, sauté in oil until tender, stir in the chopped garlic. Add vegetables to boiled barley, add minced meat, salt and pepper and mix well. Next, prepare the cabbage rolls in the standard way: put minced meat (about 2 tablespoons each) in boiled cabbage leaves and wrap them in an envelope.
2. For the sauce in another bowl, mix sour cream with ketchup and flour, add salt to taste, pour in a glass of water and mix until smooth. Pour the stuffed cabbage with sauce and simmer for half an hour after boiling.

Ask the chef!

Failed to cook a meal? Feel free to ask me personally.

Pearl barley pilaf

Pearl barley pilaf is an original and tasty dish. How much barley is cooked for pilaf? In general, as usual, however, cooking consists of several stages.

Ingredients:

• meat (pulp of pork or beef, lamb) - 0.5 kg;
• pearl barley - 400g;
• onions and carrots - 1 each;
• a little tomato paste (1-2 tablespoons);
• butter - 1 pack (200g);
• favorite spices and salt;
• water as needed.

1. To cook pearl barley pilaf, start cooking with roasting meat. Meat, pre-cut into portions, is fried until golden brown in any convenient dish. Add tomato paste and spices to the meat, fry everything together.
2. While the meat is fried, pearl barley soaked in water is boiled for about 15 minutes; water is taken in relation to cereals 3:2.
3. Half-finished barley is evenly distributed over the meat and poured with water or broth 2 fingers above the level of the cereal. We cook everything on low heat until the water evaporates. After that, pilaf in a bowl with a tight lid is placed in a preheated oven (up to 200 degrees) for half an hour.

Barley porridge a la army

Ingredients:

• pearl barley - a glass;
• water - 1 liter;
• pork or beef stew - 1 can (250g);
• garlic - a clove;
• a spoonful of ketchup or thick tomato paste;
• salt to taste.

1. Boil barley in water until cooked, salt it by the end of cooking.
2. In a frying pan, heat the stew, add tomato paste and garlic, passed through the “crusher”, to it. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Then mix the stew from the pan with barley and let the “army” porridge satiate for at least half an hour (you can put it in a warm oven).

Milk barley porridge

But not only semolina, rice or millet can be boiled in milk. Barley also turns out delicious! To prepare pre-soaked barley groats, pour boiling water at the rate of 1.5 cups of water per glass of barley. When the porridge boils, cook it until the water almost disappears, then pour in hot milk (2 cups) and cook, stirring, until tender, salting and sugaring to taste, you can put butter in the finished milk barley.

A big minus of cooking barley in milk is that you have to stand at the stove for a very long time, because milk is still that “escape” lover. In this case, it is good to use a water bath, but you should know how much barley is cooked in this way, and be patient: the cooking time is about 6 hours!

How to cook barley for soups

Delicious pickle with barley, good with barley and fish soup! You can also just cook cereal soup. There is no particular hassle in the preparation of pearl barley soups.
How much to cook barley for pickle? If the soup is cooked in meat broth, the pre-soaked pearl barley is laid about an hour after the start of cooking the meat. At the same time, the cereals are boiled for at least 30 minutes before laying potatoes and other vegetables.

Delicious pearl pickle

Ingredients for soup for a 3-liter saucepan:

• beef pulp - 250-300g;
• pearl barley - 1/3 cup;
• peeled potatoes - about 200g;
• medium-sized pickled cucumber;
• cucumber pickle - 1/3 cup;
• bulb;
• medium carrot - 1 piece;
• lavrushka, pepper, salt - to taste;
• vegetable oil for sauteing vegetables - 2-3 tablespoons.

1. Boil the meat for about an hour, remove it and cool. Pour the soaked barley into the broth (how much barley is cooked - mentioned above), cook for half an hour, add diced potatoes.
2. Tip: you can boil barley for soups until half cooked separately, then put it in the soup, then its color will be more pleasant, the grayish tint of the broth will not appear.
3. Cut the onion into cubes and saute with grated carrots in oil. In a separate bowl, stew the grated or diced cucumber in 3-4 tablespoons of soup broth.
4. Put passerovka and cucumber into the soup, pour in the brine, salt and cook after boiling for a couple of minutes.
5. It is best to serve pickle soup with fresh sour cream and chopped herbs.

How to cook barley for a side dish in a slow cooker

There is nothing easier than how to cook barley for a side dish if there is a slow cooker in the kitchen! This little helper cooks delicious food and saves her hostess a lot of time. How to cook barley tasty for a side dish in a slow cooker?

Pour the pre-soaked cereals into a multi-cooker bowl and pour water (1: 3), salt to taste and set the "buckwheat" (or "porridge") mode. Depending on the variety and quality of the cereal, cook from 50 minutes to an hour and a half.

A simple barley garnish in a slow cooker

Ingredients:

• a glass of pearl barley;
• 3 glasses of water;
• vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons;
• butter - 1 tablespoon;
• carrots, tomatoes and onions - 1 each;
• salt to taste.

Cook barley in a slow cooker, sauté onion chopped into cubes separately in a pan in vegetable oil, after a couple of minutes add grated carrots, after another 5 minutes - a tomato, cut into small cubes. Stir vegetables while sauteing; ready - add to barley, mix and simmer for about 5 minutes all together.

Barley casserole with mushrooms

Ingredients:

• barley ready (from a glass of raw cereals);
• onion head;
• 300 g of mushrooms (champignons, mushrooms, porcini, etc.);
• a raw egg;
• cheese - about 100g;
• 200 ml cream.

1. Chop the onion and fry until golden brown in a pan, add the prepared (washed and chopped, and, if necessary, boiled in advance) mushrooms. Fry for a couple of minutes, pour in 3 tablespoons of water and simmer until the mushrooms are ready. We transfer the finished barley (half) from the multicooker to a baking dish, the bottom of which is greased with vegetable or butter. On top of pearl barley - mushrooms, on top again barley.
2. Whip the cream and the egg, pour the mixture over the future barley casserole and sprinkle with grated cheese on top. In a preheated oven (200 degrees), stand the baking sheet for 20 minutes until the casserole is browned on top.

How to quickly cook barley? Thermos help!

If barley is not just soaked in water overnight, but done in a thermos, then in the morning you can be pleasantly surprised how much barley is cooked faster than usual!

The washed cereal should be placed in a thermos and pour boiling water: for a glass of cereal - 3-4 cups of boiling water. The next morning, put the cereal in a saucepan, pour hot water (water - twice as much steamed cereal), cook until cooked for about 20 minutes, salt at the end of cooking.

Hearty barley cereal salad

1. Wash the tomatoes, cut into slices (if small) or a cube. Finely chop the onion, chop the celery stalk, chop the herbs and chop the garlic. Fry the garlic to make it more fragrant, put the squids on it and fry until tender.
2. Add greens and celery, tomatoes, squids to pearl barley and season with lemon juice, mix well. Salt to taste.

A few "pearl" facts

1. Pearl barley is one of the cheapest.
2. When cooking, the volume of pearl barley from the original amount increases almost five times - you need a spacious pan!
3. It is necessary to salt barley at the end of cooking: this way the grains will boil better.
4. Barley is good for a diet: its calorie content, of course, is not so small (320 kcal per 100 g), but it contains a lot of fiber and little starch.
5. There is a lot of vitamin E in pearl barley - the main vitamin of "youth".
6. There are a lot of B vitamins in cereals - hair and skin are “friends” with them, with a lack of these vitamins, the hair grows dull and split, and the skin dries and flakes.

As you can see, gray and inconspicuous cereals, which we used to treat with disdain, can be very tasty in elementary simple dishes. After all, they don’t like pearl barley, mainly because they don’t know how to cook it correctly: either the porridge will burn, or it won’t be cooked, or even turn into a sticky mass on a plate. If you know how to cook properly, and how much barley is cooked, you can create real culinary masterpieces.

Barley porridge is often referred to as "man's rice". It was and remains the most common dish in the diet of soldiers. Its advantages include high nutritional value and low price. But few consider the organoleptic qualities of barley to be outstanding. Housewives add it to pickles, farmers use it as feed for poultry and animals, and fishermen boil it to use as fish bait. But few people cook dishes from it for the second or side dish at home. Modern housewives may be surprised by the fact that even imperial persons did not disdain barley before, and Peter the Great even had it as one of his favorite foods. The problem is that many chefs do not know how to cook barley porridge properly, or they violate the classical technology in order to save time. If you follow the established rules for preparing this dish, the result will pleasantly surprise you.

Cooking features

Pearl barley contains a lot of protein-containing gluten, which makes it similar to legumes. It has a high nutritional value and is especially valuable for those people in whose diet there is no meat (or present in small quantities). But it is difficult to boil it so that it is not hard. Only by adhering to the traditional technology of preparing barley porridge or knowing a few tricks of modern chefs, you can cook a dish that will be pleasant to eat.

• Before cooking barley must be washed well. It is poured into a bowl, poured with clean water, then the grains are rubbed against each other. The water will darken and become cloudy, it must be drained, and the cereal should be poured with a portion of clean water and continue washing. The manipulation is repeated until the water drained from the barley becomes transparent.
• If you follow the traditional technology for making barley porridge, it must be soaked in cold water for 10-12 hours. For a glass of cereal, you need to use four to five glasses of water, since pearl barley swells greatly.
• Cooking pearl barley is recommended in an enamel pan with a double bottom - in such containers, porridge does not burn, even if it is boiled in milk, due to the fact that there is no direct contact of the bottom of the dish with fire. Porridge will not burn even when cooking it in a slow cooker.
• How long to cook pearl barley porridge depends on two things: how long it was soaked and how it is cooked. After soaking in a saucepan, barley is boiled for 40-50 minutes, in a slow cooker - an hour. If the cereal was soaked for less than 10 hours or boiled in milk, the time will have to be increased by about one and a half times. If the cereal was not soaked at all, it should be cooked for at least two hours. But when cooking barley without soaking, the result will still be far from expected, unless you resort to a few tricks.
• If you did not soak the barley overnight in cool water, you can pour boiling water over it and leave it for an hour. If you do not have this time, fill the cereal with water and bring to a boil, cook for 5-7 minutes, drain in a colander. After that, you can fill the cereal with water and cook porridge from it according to any of the selected recipes. If, instead of soaking barley, it is steamed as described above, it can be cooked even earlier than when cooked in the traditional way (after soaking).
• In one of the books by William Pokhlebkin, the process of preparing barley porridge in milk in a water bath is described. If you want to cook porridge using this method, then it will take 5-6 hours to cook the dish (not including 10-12 hours for soaking the cereal), but the result will definitely not disappoint you.

Barley porridge is most often boiled in water, served as a side dish or an independent dish, but it can also be boiled in milk for breakfast.

The proportions of cereals and liquid

The ratio of pearl barley and liquid depends on whether it was soaked beforehand, on what they plan to cook porridge (in milk or water), and also on what result they want to get.

• To prepare crumbly barley porridge from pre-soaked cereals, take 2.5-3 cups of water or 3.5-4 cups of milk or 3-3.5 cups of a mixture of milk and water per glass of barley. If the cereal has not been soaked, the ratio of barley and liquid should be 1: 4. If the barley was previously steamed out by holding an hour in hot water or boiling for 5 minutes, it is enough to take 2 cups of water per 1 cup of dry cereal (or 3 cups of milk).
• If they want to get viscous porridge, take 4-5 glasses of water per glass of cereal (depending on whether the cereal was pre-soaked). If viscous porridge is boiled in milk, then the ratio of barley and milk is used 1: 8 or even 1: 10 (when cooking in a water bath or without pre-soaking). If milk is diluted with water, then you can take 5-6 glasses of liquid per glass of pre-soaked cereals.
• When cooking barley in a slow cooker, proportions of 1: 2.5 for crumbly porridge and 1: 4 for viscous are considered optimal if it is cooked in water after pre-soaking. To prepare milk porridge, it is advisable to increase the amount of liquid.

The introduction of fruits, vegetables and other ingredients into the composition of the dish can slightly affect the optimal proportions of cereals and liquids. In order not to be mistaken, it is worth adhering to the proportions indicated in a particular recipe.

In a glass with a capacity of 0.25 liters, 230 g of barley is placed. In a glass with a volume of 0.2 liters, 185 g of pearl barley is placed.

Important! Pearl barley got its name due to its shape, reminiscent of pearl, that is, pearls. The cereal from which this cereal is obtained is called barley, and its beneficial properties are multifaceted. In its composition, more than 10% is protein, which is more than in rice. Barley contains a lot of lysine, due to which its regular inclusion in the diet has a beneficial effect on the condition of the skin and hair. According to the content of potassium, magnesium, iron and calcium, barley from cereals is second only to buckwheat. It is good for the heart and blood vessels. The significant content of folic acid in barley, together with iron, makes it one of the best products for the prevention of iron deficiency anemia. The product is also recommended for the nutrition of people suffering from obesity and diabetes: despite the fact that 100 g of barley porridge contains from 109 to 140 kcal (depending on the recipe), its use does not cause weight gain. Even a small portion of barley can be full, and the feeling of satiety will not leave you for a long time.

• pearl barley - 0.23 kg;
• water - 0.75-1 liter for cooking porridge and 1 liter for soaking cereals;
• salt - to taste;
• butter - 40 g.

Cooking method:

• Rinse the pearl barley to such an extent that the water flowing from it remains clean.
• Put the cereal in a bowl or pan, pour 1 liter of cool water.
• Leave the cereal in a cool place for 10-12 hours.
• After the specified time, rinse the swollen cereal and place it in a saucepan, add salt, pour three to four glasses of clean water (depending on how viscous you want to cook the porridge).
• Put the pot on the fire. Bring water to a boil over low heat. Boil the porridge, stirring occasionally, until there is almost no water left in the pan. This will take 40-50 minutes.
• Remove the pan from the heat, add the oil to the porridge, stir it well. Cover the pan with a lid, wrap with a towel and leave for 15-20 minutes.

If you are fasting, butter can be replaced with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Butter can also be replaced or supplemented with fried onions.

Barley porridge on water without soaking

• pearl barley - 0.23 kg;
• water - 1.25 l;
• salt - to taste;
• dried herbs, universal seasoning - to taste.

Cooking method:

• Rinse pearl barley well, pour it with three glasses of water and put on a slow fire.
• Bringing the water in a saucepan to a boil, cook barley in it for 5 minutes. Remove from fire. Leave covered for 10-15 minutes.
• Drain the water. Add 2 cups of cool water to the steamed cereal.
• Return the pot to the stove. Cook the porridge for about 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until there is almost no water left in the pan.
• Add salt, seasonings and oil, continue to cook the porridge for another 5-10 minutes.

By replacing soaking cereals with steaming, you will significantly reduce the cooking time for barley porridge, but the result will be identical.

Barley porridge with milk

• pearl barley - 0.23 kg;
• milk - 0.75 l;
• water - 0.5 l;
• salt - a pinch;
• sugar, butter - to taste.

Cooking method:

• Rinse pearl barley until clear water. Soak for at least 4-6 hours in cool water, rinse.
• Put the barley in a saucepan, fill with clean water. Put on fire and cook until almost all the water has evaporated.
• Add salt, sugar, butter and milk. Stir. Continue cooking the porridge until it puffs up. Periodically it needs to be stirred so that it does not burn.

When there is almost no milk left in the pan, remove it from the heat, wrap it up and leave it like this for half an hour. After the specified time, you can invite household members to the table.

Milk porridge from pearl barley in a water bath (according to V. Pokhlebkin)

• pearl barley - 0.23 kg;
• water (for soaking cereals) - 1 l;
• milk - 2 l;
• salt, sugar, butter - to taste.

Cooking method:

• Rinse the barley to clean water.
• Pour the cereal with a liter of water and leave overnight (for 10-12 hours).
• Drain the water, rinse the cereal again, put it in a saucepan with a capacity of about 3-3.5 liters.
• Heat the milk to about 40 degrees, fill it with barley.
• Put the pot on a slow fire. Bring the milk to a boil. Boil the porridge, stirring and making sure that it does not run away, for 5 minutes. Add sugar and a pinch of salt.
• Place the pot of porridge in a large pot filled with warm water. Continue to cook porridge in a water bath for 5-6 hours. It is not necessary to stir it at this time - it will not burn anyway.
• Remove the porridge from the water bath, add oil to it, mix.

Having tried barley porridge prepared according to this recipe, you will almost certainly understand why Peter I loved it.

Milk barley porridge in a slow cooker

• pearl barley - 0.23 kg;
• water for soaking cereals - 1 l;
• milk - 1.25 l;
• sugar - 20 g;
• salt - a pinch;
• butter - 30 g.

Cooking method:

• Pearl barley, washed, soak in cool water for 10-12 hours and rinse again.
• Put the barley in the bowl of the multicooker. Sprinkle it with sugar and salt.
• With butter, draw a circle on the walls of the multicooker container. Milk will not be able to go beyond this line when boiling, which will save you trouble. Put the remaining oil on the pearl barley.
• Pour milk into the multicooker bowl. Lower the lid.
• Start the unit by selecting the "Milk porridge" program. If your device does not have such a function, select a program designed for cooking cereal dishes - almost any multicooker has such a program, only it is called differently: “Porridge”, “Groats”, “Rice”, “Pilaf”, "Buckwheat".
• If your unit does not automatically detect the readiness of dishes, set the timer to 1 hour.
• After completing the main program, stir the porridge and leave it to simmer for 30-60 minutes in the heating mode.

Porridge prepared according to this recipe will be almost in no way inferior to that made according to the previous recipe, but there will be much less trouble with it.

Barley porridge with stew

• pearl barley - 0.25 kg;
• meat stew (from beef or pork) - 0.3-0.35 kg;
• carrots - 0.2 kg;
• onions - 0.2 kg;
• garlic - 3 cloves;
• refined vegetable oil - 50 ml;
• water - 1.25 l (or 0.75 l of water, 0.5 l of broth);
• salt, spices - to taste.

Cooking method:

• Pour the washed pearl barley with three glasses of water, bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes over low heat. Drain excess water.
• Finely chop the garlic.
• Onion, freeing from the husk, cut into medium-sized cubes.
• Scrape carrots, wash, dry with a napkin. Grind on a grater with large holes.
• Heat oil in a nonstick skillet or pan. Put chopped vegetables in it, brown them for 5 minutes.
• Add barley to vegetables, fill them with water or broth in an amount of 0.5 liters. Add some salt and pepper if necessary.
• Stew the porridge with vegetables for about 20-30 minutes, until the excess liquid has evaporated.
• Add stew to barley, mix. Continue to cook the porridge for 5-10 minutes, stirring it so that it does not burn.

A tasty and satisfying dish made according to this recipe will appeal to even many of those who consider barley porridge tasteless.

Barley porridge with meat in a slow cooker

• barley - 0.2 kg;
• water - 1 liter for soaking and 0.6 liter for cooking porridge;
• carrots - 100 g;
• onions - 100 g;
• lean pork - 0.3 kg;
• refined vegetable oil - 20 ml;
• salt, spices - to taste.

Cooking method:

• Soak the washed barley overnight in cool water, rinse again.
• Peel carrots and onions. Cut the onion into small cubes, grate the carrots.
• Wash the pork, dry it with a kitchen towel, cut into medium-sized cubes or strips, as for beef stroganoff.
• Pour the oil into the bowl of the multicooker, put the pieces of pork in it. Start the unit by activating the "Frying" or "Baking" program.
• When the meat is browned, add the chopped vegetables to it and cook the food without changing the mode for another 5 minutes.
• Add barley, salt and spices. Pour in water.
• Lower the lid of the multicooker and start the unit in the "Rice", "Pilaf" or similar mode for 45-60 minutes. The exact cooking time depends on the power of your multicooker.
• After the specified time, mix the porridge with meat, leave the dish for 10-20 minutes in the heating mode.

Barley porridge cooked with meat in a slow cooker is a tasty and satisfying meal that does not need any additions.

Barley porridge is not often on the table of our compatriots, although it is a hearty and healthy dish. The reason lies in the fact that few of the modern housewives know how to cook barley really tasty. Knowing the technology of making barley porridge and not violating it, you will reconsider your attitude to this traditional Russian dish.

Perlovka is barley grains processed in a special way. It contains many useful trace elements, vitamins, fiber and improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. From it you can cook barley porridge or a traditional soup of Russian cuisine - pickle. Barley has only one significant drawback: it takes a long time to cook. However, there are ways to quickly prepare it.

How to quickly cook barley

How to cook barley with pre-soaking

To cook a delicious pickle, you first need to prepare all the ingredients, barley is the most important. Many housewives are interested in how much barley should be cooked for pickle. Depending on the size of the grains and the method of preparation, it can be cooked from several minutes to one and a half hours. To speed up the cooking of barley, there are various ways - for example, pre-soaking cereals for several hours.

To cook barley, you will need:

• 1 liter of water
• 1 cup pearl barley

Sort the pearl barley and rinse it thoroughly. Then transfer the barley to a bowl, fill it with cold water and leave to soak for 5-6 or 10-12 hours (ideally overnight). Drain excess liquid, pour the cereal into a saucepan, fill with fresh water and set to boil. After the water boils, drain it and rinse the barley with cold water. Then pour the cereal with boiling water and cook for 20-30 minutes. As a result, barley will turn out crumbly, and its grains will not stick together. In the soup, the finished barley is cooked for a short time. Add it to the pickle about 5 minutes before the end of its cooking.

How to quickly cook barley without soaking

To cook barley quickly and without pre-soaking, sort through the grits, then rinse it thoroughly. Put a pot of water on the fire. When the water boils, pour the cereal into it and boil over high heat for 2-3 minutes. Then drain the liquid and fill the barley with cold water. Put it on fire again. When the water boils, reduce the heat to a minimum level and cook until tender.

It is better to boil pearl barley for pickle separately, adding it to an almost ready soup. Otherwise, the pickle will turn out to be too cloudy, slimy and not so tasty.

Barley can also be quickly cooked in the microwave. On the shelves of grocery stores you can find pearl barley packaged in bags. It costs a little more, but it takes much less effort and time to prepare it. Take a bag of cereal, put it in a glass container, then fill it with cold water and put it in the microwave oven at maximum power for 10-15 minutes. After this time, reduce the power and leave the grits until fully cooked.

Alternatively, use a pressure cooker to quickly cook pearl barley. Pour water into a container, pour barley into a rice bowl, and then turn on the steamer. As a rule, the cooking time is indicated in the instructions for this household appliance.