Pearl barley salad with feta and vegetables: summery, filling, good for three days
Pearl barley instead of lettuce: chewy grains that hold the dressing and never wilt, with peppers, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red onion, feta and a big handful of parsley and dill. A dressing of lemon, olive oil and garlic. Make it once, eat it for three days: at work, on a picnic, at the barbecue. The barley cooks in half an hour; the rest is chopping.
Your own work in that: 25 min.
- Barley cooking 30 min
- Chopping 15 min
- Dressing and mixing 10 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneRinse the barley
Tip the barley into a fine sieve and rinse under running water until the water runs clear. Rinsing washes off the starchy dust that would glue the grains into one mass in the salad.
Ingredients: 200 g pearl barley · 2 pcs bell peppers · 1 pcs cucumber · 250 g cherry tomatoes · 1 pcs red onion · 150 g feta · 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley · ½ bunch dill · 1 tsp salt
Until the water runs clearCook it fluffy
Cover the barley with 600 ml water and a teaspoon of salt, bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer covered 25–30 minutes, until the grains are tender but still chewy, like al dente. Drain if any water remains.
TipBarley in a salad should offer slight resistance. Cooked soft it turns gluey; start checking at 25 minutes.
Three parts water, half an hour, chewyCool it spread out
Spread the hot barley on a large plate or tray, drizzle with a spoon of the olive oil from the dressing and leave to cool completely, 15 minutes. Spread thin it cools fast and doesn't steam into a sticky lump; the oil keeps the grains separate.
Spread thin, a spoon of oil, until coldDice the vegetables small
Cut the peppers and cucumber into 1 cm dice, halve or quarter the tomatoes, dice the onion very finely. Chop the parsley and dill coarsely; there should be plenty, they are herbs, not garnish. Crumble the feta with your fingers.
Even dice, lots of greenMake the dressing
In a jar combine the remaining olive oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic, salt and pepper; close and shake until the dressing thickens and turns cloudy.
Ingredients: 4 tbsp olive oil · 1 pcs lemon, juice · 1 clove garlic · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper
Oil, lemon, garlic, shakeToss and wait
Combine the cold barley with the vegetables and herbs, pour over the dressing, toss. Add the feta last and fold in with two strokes so it doesn't break down into paste. Leave 10 minutes, taste, add salt or lemon. Serve at room temperature.
TipKeeps 3 days in the fridge. For a next-day lunchbox add the cucumber and tomatoes fresh in the morning; everything else is happy to spend the night in the dressing.
Feta last, ten minutes and done
Before you start
With roasted peppers
Roast the peppers 25 minutes at 220 °C, peel and cut into strips: a sweeter, smoky version, less crunchy.
With chickpeas
A drained can of chickpeas instead of the feta — which makes the salad vegan — or alongside it for an even more filling version.
With buckwheat or bulgur
The same salad with 200 g unroasted buckwheat (15 minutes cooking) or bulgur (soaked in boiling water 20 minutes). Pearl barley stays the chewiest.
