Chicken, pearl barley and veg soup

Filling and nutritious, this delicious chicken, pearl barley and veg soup is perfect for lunch

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We made this delicious soup with Sakura’s SOUP function or with Bamboo and Panda’s SLOW COOK function – it’s a very versatile and forgiving soup, you can throw any veg that you have into it, the more veg the better (*note when making this recipe in Panda, you will need to scale the ingredients down). For the green leafy veg you can use kale, spinach, anything you prefer – we made our soup with broccoli leaves and stalks and it was delicious.
*optional non veggie option – add 2 chicken breasts cut in half (if you want to substitute with cooked chicken, that’s okay too)

AuthorHungry PandaCategory, DifficultyIntermediate

Yields3 Servings
Prep Time20 minsCook Time2 hrsTotal Time2 hrs 20 mins

INGREDIENTS
 1 large red onion – chopped into chunks
 ¾ cup pearl barley (washed)
 2 medium carrots
 1 bell pepper (whatever colour you have) chopped into chunks
 8 sticks green beans chopped into smaller pieces
 4 sticks baby sweetcorn chopped into smaller pieces
 2 sticks broccoli stalks, sliced (optional), leafy green veg (cabbage, spinach, brocolli leaves) set aside
 5 stock cubes dissolved in 1 litre of hot water
 400 ml hot water
 1 dash olive oil
 5 pinches salt, black pepper, white pepper, 1 tsp of dried tarragon, 1 tsp of oregano, a pinch of cayenne pepper (these are the seasonings)
*optional non veggie option - add 2 chicken breasts cut in half (if you want to substitute with cooked chicken, that’s okay too)

HOW TO MAKE
1

Add a little olive oil to your rice cooker inner bowl and fry the onions for around 5 minutes using the SLOW COOK or similar function.

2

When the onions are beginning to turn translucent, add the veg (apart from the leafy greens) and
saute/fry for a further 5 minutes. Add the pearl barley.

3

**For a meat version you would brown the chicken at this point.** Add the all of the stock to the inner bowl and add the seasonings.

4

Mix all the ingredients together well and add the additional water.

5

Close the lid and select the SLOW COOK or preferably the SOUP function. Press START then
cook for at least 2 hours.

6

20 minutes before you are ready to serve adjust the seasoning and add the leafy veg. If you are having the meat version you can shred the chicken (take out of the inner bowl to do this!) and add back to the soup.

Ingredients

INGREDIENTS
 1 large red onion – chopped into chunks
 ¾ cup pearl barley (washed)
 2 medium carrots
 1 bell pepper (whatever colour you have) chopped into chunks
 8 sticks green beans chopped into smaller pieces
 4 sticks baby sweetcorn chopped into smaller pieces
 2 sticks broccoli stalks, sliced (optional), leafy green veg (cabbage, spinach, brocolli leaves) set aside
 5 stock cubes dissolved in 1 litre of hot water
 400 ml hot water
 1 dash olive oil
 5 pinches salt, black pepper, white pepper, 1 tsp of dried tarragon, 1 tsp of oregano, a pinch of cayenne pepper (these are the seasonings)
*optional non veggie option - add 2 chicken breasts cut in half (if you want to substitute with cooked chicken, that’s okay too)

Directions

HOW TO MAKE
1

Add a little olive oil to your rice cooker inner bowl and fry the onions for around 5 minutes using the SLOW COOK or similar function.

2

When the onions are beginning to turn translucent, add the veg (apart from the leafy greens) and
saute/fry for a further 5 minutes. Add the pearl barley.

3

**For a meat version you would brown the chicken at this point.** Add the all of the stock to the inner bowl and add the seasonings.

4

Mix all the ingredients together well and add the additional water.

5

Close the lid and select the SLOW COOK or preferably the SOUP function. Press START then
cook for at least 2 hours.

6

20 minutes before you are ready to serve adjust the seasoning and add the leafy veg. If you are having the meat version you can shred the chicken (take out of the inner bowl to do this!) and add back to the soup.

Pearl Barley and Vegetable Soup

Serve with big chunks of sourdough bread which mops up the savoury soup perfectly. This recipe freezes very well, so don’t worry about having too much – you have an easy soup ready to defrost and reheat.