Winter Vegetable and Barley Soup
Serves 6-8
10 minutes at high pressure; natural release
This pressure cooked recipe takes you beyond traditional mushroom barley soup and includes fresh vegetables of the season. If you want to add any cruciferous vegetable such as broccoli or cauliflower, add them after the pressure comes down.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup sliced onions, shallots or leeks
½ cup chopped celery
1 ½ cups roughly chopped carrot
1 medium potato, cut into chunks
1 cup chopped, peeled parsnip
1-2 cups any other chopped winter root vegetable such as turnip, rutabaga, celery root, sweet potato, Jerusalem artichoke
1-2 tablespoons tamari
1 cup pearled barley or 1 cup hulled barley (soaked overnight for hulled)
6 cups vegetable broth or water
Salt and pepper, to taste
1-3 cups water
1 tablespoon miso, dissolved in 3 tablespoons water
1 cup cooked beans (optional)
chopped Italian parsley, for garnish, if you have it
Heat the oil over medium heat in the cooker. Add the onions, celery and carrot. Cook until the onions are starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the potato, parsnip, tamari, barley and broth to the pot. Lock the lid in place and cook for 8 minutes at high pressure, reducing the heat to maintain high pressure.
After 10 minutes, remove from the heat and let the pressure come down naturally. If the barley isn’t cooked through, put this back on the heat for another few minutes. Barley can take up to 20 minutes to cook.
Remove the lid, carefully tilting it away from you. Add the beans and stir in the miso-water mixture. Taste and add salt and pepper, if needed.
Ladle into bowls and top with parsley. Serve hot.
Note: this soup can be flavored any way that you like – using a combination of cumin and chipotle powder or curry or an herb blend such as Herbs d’Provence or just the way that it is with some salt and pepper.
© 2006, The Veggie Queen, Jill Nussinow, R.D.
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