Barley pearls and sprout salad

Last night we went out for dinner at Turkish restaurant. The place was just awesome. Not just the taste but even the quantity was too much for my small family. By the time we finished dinner and stepped out of restaurant we three were totally stuffed.

Today since it was weekend we got up late. Made cup of coffee for myself and was pondering what to cook, normally weekend breakfast and lunch is combined into brunch which is quite elaborate at my house but last dinner was so heavy that we were still not hungry.

Ask my hubby, what he would like to eat and even he was just as clueless as me… lol

Finally I decided to make some salad and serve it with grilled chicken drumsticks.

Kept the chicken for defrost and made simple marinate for chicken. Next stop was salad. Checked the fridge for salad ingredients, had most of the things except salad leaves.

To make salad nutritional and filling i decided to add barley pearls and leftovers sprouted moong along with usual salad stuff.

Barley pearls may not be as popular as oats or quinoa, but it has amazing nutritional benefits. It is not only high in fiber content, vitamins and minerals and antioxidants. It is one of the best grain to consume. And i don’t have to convince you the health benefits of sprouts.

For dressing i did want anything heavy so opted for simple lemon and olive oil dressing along with other herbs and chili flakes.

Ingredients

7-10 small red Radish sliced

1 cucumber sliced

1 carrot sliced

1/4 cup cabbage

1/4 cup purple cabbage

1 chopped tomato

1/2 sprouted moong

1/2 boiled barley pearls

For dressing

2 crushed garlic

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp black pepper powder

1/2 tsp chili flakes

1/2 dry garlic herb

Salt to taste

4 tbs olive oil

Method:

In a big bowl add all the salad ingredients and toss and keep it aside.

In a small jar put all dressing ingredients. After closing the lid shake well so that everything is mixed well.

Drizzle the salad dressing in the salad bowl and gently toss . Refreshing and nutritional salad is ready to serve.

Below is short video of the recipe

Do try this super salad. We enjoyed the meal, hope even you do.

Barley once staple diet of gaonwala is now served many International cuisine restaurants, it never got its due worth like oats and quinoa. Barley has very high fiber content, vitamins and minerals, rich in antioxidants.

You would be surprised to know that one cup of cooked barley has less calories, but more fiber, than an equal serving of quinoa. And it is fraction of cost of quinoa.