Barley with vegetables and peanuts

Hello everyone.

As you may noticed my last few posts were with vegetarian dishes. I am in a new phase were I am trying to eat as less meat as I can. I do not pretend to be a vegetarian and I believe I will never be a full time vegan :) I love fish to much to give it up (and a few other ingredients as well).
But I am a person who had some weight problems during my adolescence and I am as careful as I can with what I eat. I can say that I’m trying to be a “healthy eater” if I may say so. Nevertheless, I do not take everything to an extreme level and once in a while I allow myself some decadent treats (I do not want to become a frustrated person and I love good food to much).

But let’s get back to the vegetarian recipe series and learn how to make barley with vegetables and peanuts.

You will need (for 4 servings):

• 250 g of barley
• 150 g crashed peanuts
• 4 bell peppers
• 1 eggplant
• 2 carrots
• 5 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 cup of white wine
• 1 teaspoon of dried thyme
• 4 springs of fresh parsley
• salt and pepper

Now that we have all the necessary ingredients, let’s cook the dish:

1. Wash the barley in 2-3 different waters and put it to soak in warm water for about 1 hour. Then boil it in salty water until the grains become soft. Drain the water in which the barley have boiled and keep the barley in a bowl.
2. Cut the bell peppers in two and cut them in thin strips.
3. Cut the carrots in thin rings and the eggplant in little cubs.
4. Put the olive oil in a pan, and cook for about 5 minutes the carrots (at medium heat), then add the bell peppers and the eggplant and cook them for another 5 minutes. Don’t forget to stir from time to time.
5. Add the crashed peanuts, the wine, salt and pepper and the thyme. Boil everything for about 15 minutes until the sauce thickens.
6. Distribute the barley into 4 plants and on top of it put the resulted sauce and then garnish everything with a spring of parsley.

Enjoy!

Image credit: wellfedheart.com