Bean and Barley Vegetable Stew

Standard / by / March 12, 2012 / 12 Comments

Yesterday was hard on me. I missed that hour when daylight savings began.

I lazed around all Sunday morning and suddenly realized I needed to make at least one big dish to reheat this week.  Not sure what to make I began where I always begin these days … by making a vegetable broth.  With the broth in the pressure cooker I thought about what I could make.  One dish with vegetables, grains, and beans seemed like the way to go. I went through my pantry and saw pearled barley. Yes!  This grain cooks in about 18 – 20 minutes in the pressure cooker, so I referred to my Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure cookbook to see what beans required the same cooking time:  black, flageolet and navy.  I had flageolet beans on hand!

Bean and Barley Vegetable Stew

by JL goes Vegan: Food & Fitness with a side of Kale

Serves 6 -8

Ingredients

  • Avocado Oil (optional)
  • 1/4 cup shallots, sliced and diced
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 1/2 a jalapeño, diced
  • 1/2 cup baby bella mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • 1 cup green beans, chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 t Herbes de Provence
  • 1 t thyme, dry
  • 1 t ground black pepper
  • 4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 cup flageolet beans, soaked for one hour and drained
  • 3/4 cup pearled barley, dry (rinsed and drained)
  • Juice of one lemon
  • Cardamom, to taste
  • Iodized sea salt, to taste

Instructions

  1. Heat oil (or water or vegetable broth) in an uncovered pressure cooker. Saute shallots, celery and jalapeno for a few minutes.
  2. Add mushrooms, tomato, green beans, bay leaf, spices, broth, water, beans, and barley.
  3. Cover the pressure cooker and bring to pressure.
  4. Cook at pressure for 20 – 22 minutes.
  5. Release pressure naturally.
  6. Once pressure has released, remove the lid, away from you, and add lemon juice, cardamom and salt.
  7. Simmer for 5 – 10 minutes, uncovered.

I love adding lemon juice to my beans before adding salt.  You all know I love my oil and salt but I really do try to enjoy them in moderation.  Adding lemon or lime juice to my bean dishes adds a flavor dimension that curbs my desire for salt.  Anyone else find that to be true?

I’m packing this stew for lunch today – I’ll serve it hot, over a bed of a raw baby spinach.

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12 thoughts on “Bean and Barley Vegetable Stew”

  1. Yum! I love barley sooooo much! And I’m thrilled about Daylight Savings Time! I HATE the dark part of the year. 

    1.  Oh my goodness!  Thank you for catching that! I’ve edited the post above but it’s 3/4 cups pearled barley (dry) and you add it to the pressure cooker with the beans.  Sorry about that!

      1. Thanks so much! I haven’t used my pressure cooker yet, and this sounded amazing .. then I was like, “Oh, wait .. Where’s the barley?!” I love me some barley!

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    1. Hulled barley takes longer to cook than pearled, but I chose a longer cooker time for the pearled to make it creamy. Soooooo. I would say had a few more minutes to cook the hulled but I don’t know if the soup will have the same texture. Give it a try and let me know!

        1. Hi JL! Hulled barley worked great for us (we like a lot of chew-factor). I soaked the hulled barley in hot water for a couple of hours before following the recipe as normal. The lemon juice at the end took it over the top!

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