Bargain Barley Salads

Remember when quinoa, bulgar wheat, cous cous and spelt were less than £1 a bag?
Then they got all popular and trendy and now quinoa is pushing £3 a bag?
There is one grain that somehow got forgotten and that's barley.


Good old basic barley which you can pick up for 60p a bag plus it's delicious.
It's a great whole grain and can be used for so much more than just bulking out soups.

Barley salad is my current favourite for packed lunches, it'd be great for summer picnics too.

Boil the barley for 20 minutes then drain it in a sieve and run cold water through it to cool it down otherwise any salad greens that you add to it will wilt.

You'll need about 25 -30 grams of uncooked barley per person.

Once you've got the barley boiled you can add any mix of vegetables to it that you fancy

The barley salad pictured above has
two diced tomatoes
1/4 of a whole cucumber cubed
1/2 a carrot thinly sliced
1/2 a roast sweet potato
and handful of rocket, chives and salad bernet
plus the juice of half a lemon

You can throw anything into your barley salad without worrying about ratios or quantities making it a great was to use up leftovers in the fridge.
I tend to choose one main ingredient like sweet potatoes, olives or feta and go from there.

What would you put in your barley salad?