How To Cook Barley In Water: Step By Step Recipes With And Without Soaking

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

How to cook barley in water: step by step recipes with and without soaking

We remember barley porridge as a viscous, not too pleasant-looking dish in the school cafeteria. We did not like it then and do not strive to cook, having matured. In reality, barley on water is a healthy and tasty product. The main thing is to know the correct way to prepare it.

Content

• 1 Ingredients

• 2 Barley porridge recipes

  • 2.1 With soaking
  • 2.2 Without soaking
• 3 Video recipe for cooking pearl barley porridge on water

• 4 Alternative cooking methods

  • 4.1 "Glass" pearl barley in the oven
  • 4.2 In a multicooker
  • 4.3 In the microwave
  • 4.4 In the rice cooker
  • 4.5 In a thermos

Ingredients

You can add milk, jam, meat and other products to the barley cooked in water

Traditionally, barley is cooked in milk, but this porridge can be tasty, crumbly, and most importantly, light and low-calorie (only 109 kcal per 100 g of porridge) in water.

To prepare porridge you will need:

• pearl barley - 1 glass;
• water - from 1 liter;
• salt, butter - to taste.

Water for cooking usually requires 2-3 times more than cereals

Before cooking, be sure to wash the pearl barley. Do this in cold water, rinse well and rub the grains. This will get rid of the husks and films left after processing the barley. Drain water and debris, fill up a new portion and wash again. Do this until the drained water is clear. Well washed pearl barley after cooking will become crumbly, will not be slippery and sticky.

On sale you can see already prepared pearl barley in sachets, which can be cooked immediately without first washing off debris and husks. It is very convenient, and also such porridge cooks faster than ordinary barley.

Barley porridge recipes

There are a lot of recipes for making barley (with the addition of other products, using various kitchen appliances), and there are only two main methods: with or without presoaking. Pearl barley, which is made from whole grains of barley, is quite hard and tough, it takes a very long time to boil. To speed up the process, many housewives fill the cereal with water at night, which softens the structure of the product. In addition, cereals prepared in different ways have a slightly different taste.

With soaking

1. Prepare the barley by washing it thoroughly in cold water. Place in a suitable sized saucepan and cover with water. Recommended proportions are 1 liter per 1 glass of cereal. Leave it on for 10 hours. The pearl barley will swell overnight, become soft enough to cook faster.

   

   Before cooking, rinse the cereals thoroughly and leave to soak overnight

2. Pour the cereal into boiling water and start cooking. Do not forget that you need to salt such porridge at the very end of cooking, so do not add salt to the water yet. But a piece of butter will be useful: thanks to it, the cereal will acquire a pleasant delicate aftertaste and will not stick together. True, the oil will add calories to the dish.

3. Cook the porridge, stirring often: this way it will be easier for you to determine its readiness. This will take at least 20 minutes. Taste the porridge occasionally. When the beans are boiled enough, season with salt.

   

   Boil cereals in boiling water, stirring constantly

4. Remove the pan from the stove, without removing the lid, wrap it up with a towel or thick cloth, leave to simmer for 15-30 minutes.

   

   Salt the prepared porridge and add a little butter

Without soaking

To prepare porridge in this way, you need dry cereal, which you just need to wash. Before proceeding, bring a full kettle of water to a boil and reheat as needed in the process. You can add whatever you want to the cooked porridge: broth, milk, stew, meat or jam.

Pearl barley must be thoroughly washed before cooking.

1. Pour the prepared barley in a saucepan with boiling water so that the cereal is covered by it by 2 centimeters. Wait until simmer, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes.

   

   Cover the barley with water and cook for 5 minutes

2. Drain the barley through a colander. Add boiling water again, cook for 5 minutes and drain. Repeat the procedure 6 times. In this case, increase the amount of water so that the level rises by 1 cm above the cereal each time, and the cooking time - by 30 seconds.

   

   Drain the water through a colander or sieve, refill the cereal and cook a few more times

3. For the last time, pour water on the level of barley, salt. At this stage, you can add the foods you desire to the porridge. Bring porridge to a boil, stirring occasionally, and remove from heat.

   

   At the last stage, salt the barley and add broth or milk to it, if desired.

Video recipe for cooking barley porridge on water

Alternative cooking methods

You can save a lot of time and effort if you use modern household appliances when cooking pearl barley porridge in water. This could be:

• oven;
• slow cooker;
• microwave;
• rice cooker;
• thermos.

Each method gives the porridge a special flavor.

"Glass" pearl barley in the oven

This old Estonian recipe is very popular. You will need earthenware or ceramic baking pots and the following items:

• 1 glass of pearl barley;
• 2-3 glasses of water;
• salt, sugar, oil - to taste.

Soak the cereals for several hours or overnight, then put them in pots and cover with very hot water (boiling water) 2 centimeters above the grains. Do not cover cookware with lids. Set the oven to 220 degrees, and until it warms up, put the pots of cereals. It will take 40 minutes to cook.

Take out the finished porridge, add butter, sugar or salt to it to taste.

Barley porridge in a pot, cooked in the oven

You can also cook regular porridge using the oven. Many housewives prefer to cook pearl barley porridge until half cooked, and then send it to the oven for 15–20 minutes to "reach".

In a multicooker

To cook porridge in a multicooker you will need:

• 1 glass of pearl barley;
• 3 glasses of water.

The rest of the products - to taste and desire.

Thanks to the multicooker, pearl barley porridge turns out to be tender and crumbly

1. Prepare and rinse the cereal, soak in cold water for 2 hours. If you don't have much time, pour boiling water over a clean barley for 10 minutes.
2. Soaked cereal, drain the water, pour into the multicooker bowl. Fill with water. You can add a little butter or just grease the bottom of the bowl with it.
3. Set the mode "Porridge" or "Buckwheat". The device will automatically set the timer for the desired time.
4. When the multicooker emits a signal indicating that the dish is ready, remove the lid, stir the contents and salt to taste.

In the microwave

For this recipe you will need:

• 1 glass of pearl barley;
• 1.5 cups of water;
• salt, butter.

1. The washed cereal must be soaked for several hours. Drain the used water, put the pearl barley in a regular saucepan, fill it with fresh water.
2. Bring to a boil, boil for no more than 3 minutes. Throw the barley in a colander or sieve and rinse.
3. Place the semi-prepared cereal in a heat-resistant dish, cover with water, add salt, cover the contents with a lid and send to the microwave.
4. Set the device to maximum power for 5 minutes. After a while, reduce the power to about 350 W and cook for another half hour.
5. If the dish seems damp to you, add some water and keep the porridge in the microwave for another 5 minutes. Add the butter at the end of the process.

In the rice cooker

The rice cooker is a very handy device designed specifically for cooking porridge. With its help, you can easily and quickly cope with barley.

The rice cooker is a great device for preparing porridge

You will need:

• 1 glass of cereal;
• 3 glasses of water;
• 1 teaspoon of salt.

1. Rinse the pearl barley thoroughly so that no flour dust remains. Cover with water and leave for a couple of hours.
2. Let the liquid drain, load the cereal into the rice cooker. Pour 3 cups of water over. Close the lid, set the cooking mode. It will take 1 hour to cook, if you have not previously soaked the barley - from 1.5 to 2 hours.
3. After the end of cooking, leave the barley for 20 minutes in the heating mode. After that, you can add salt and butter to the dish.

In a thermos

This method is the simplest, it almost does not require any effort from you. It is enough to rinse a glass of pearl barley, pour the cereal into a regular thermos and pour boiling water over it. 4 hours is enough for the crumbly porridge to be ready.

Even in an ordinary thermos, you can cook excellent barley porridge.

This method is ideal for those who are too busy at work: they got ready in the morning, and at lunchtime they transferred the prepared porridge from a thermos to a plate and added the necessary products to taste. A hearty and healthy dish is ready!

As you can see, making barley is not at all difficult. This dish can be delicious and beautiful if you put your soul into it and follow the rules. How do you cook barley in water? Let us know in the comments. Enjoy your meal!