Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Egyptian Barley Salad

This looked appealing to me so I thought I'd give it a go... adjusting to my own desires...

  • 1½ cups pearl barley
  • Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for serving
  • 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 cup golden raisins
  • Handful coarsely chopped cilantro
  • 1 cup shelled pistachios, toasted and crushed lightly with a mallet (mine were already roasted and shelled from Costco)
  • 6 ounces feta cheese
  • 1 bunch of green onions, sliced thinly
  • 1 cup pomegranate seeds (I bought mine frozen)

I cooked my barley in some organic low sodium "Better than Bouillon" vegetable stock to package directions (35 minutes for mine).  I drained and laid it out on a baking sheet to cool.  Wow, that was a LOT of barley (which is why I adjusted the recipe)!


In a bowl, I whisked the dressing together:  olive oil, molasses, cinnamon, cumin, and S&P.


An initial taste told me it was tart, but I liked that - thought it would balance with the sweet raisins...


In the recipe, they did this like a cobb salad, all pretty in rows of the different ingredients over the barley.  I just mixed mine up in a big salad bowl, ingredient by ingredient, finishing with the pomegranate arils.  I stirred it up well after each addition.


If I was serving for company I would have did the pretty presentation on a platter.  I checked for seasoning, drizzled some more olive oil over and served.


We really enjoyed this.  Flavor was good with balance of sweet, tart and salty. I might like a jalapeno next time for the heat.  My son said it tasted like curry, but that was just the cumin.  Textures were great.  The pistachios had nice crunch and barley has a nice to chew to it, all on its own.  The green onions and cilantro really brightened it all.  Glad I made this, it was really quite pleasing.

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