Beef and Barley Soup Recipe - Happy Hooligans (2024)

FAQs

How can I thicken my beef barley soup? ›

Add Flour Or Cornstarch

You can thicken soup by adding flour, cornstarch, or another starchy substitute. For the best results, never add flour or cornstarch directly to your soup. If you do, it will clump up on top. Instead, ladle a small amount of broth into a separate bowl and let it cool.

Brown rice is the most similar gluten-free grain substitute in recipes that call for barley. Quinoa would also work in a pinch.

Browning the meat in large pieces adds deep, roasted flavor, without the over-toughening that happens when you brown it in smaller pieces. Sautéing the vegetables, then adding them back to the pot toward the end of cooking, ensures that they don't become flavorless bits of mush.

It's important to note that cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour. If you need to substitute cornstarch to thicken liquid in a recipe that calls for ¼ cup (four tablespoons) flour, you only need two tablespoons cornstarch.

After you've measured it out, simply allow the barley to cook under a soft boil until the water is absorbed. This takes around 40 minutes. Once the barley has cooked fully, it will be soft yet chewy. Overcooked barley will become mushy, while undercooked may have a thicker and chewier texture.

How to prepare barley. Pearl barley does not need to be soaked before use and will become tender during the cooking process. Pot barley is best when soaked overnight in cold water, then cooked in three parts liquid to one quantity of grain.

Additional pearl barley health benefits include twice the calcium and fibre than rice and about 30 percent fewer calories. Barley also has a better sodium level than rice, while in protein and fat content, the two are almost equivalent.

Therefore, if you have IBS or a sensitive digestive tract, you may want to avoid barley. Lastly, since barley has a strong effect on blood sugar levels, you may want to exercise caution while eating it if you have diabetes and are taking any blood-sugar-lowering medications or insulin ( 29 ).

What can I use in place of barley in soup? ›

Quinoa, brown rice, small pasta like orzo, farro, or wild rice all make excellent additions to soup in place of barley.

Because of this, you're actually best off substituting rice with other whole grains, such as quinoa, barley, ferro, amaranth, bulgur and millet. They'll be just as nutritious and don't have arsenic in them because they don't take up arsenic from the ground as they grow.

Regulates Blood Glucose Levels:

As per a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the blood glucose levels of type 2 diabetic patients who consumed barley were significantly lower than those who had white rice when tested three hours post-ingestion.

Yes, pure, uncontaminated oats are gluten-free. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration considers oats a gluten-free grain under its gluten-free labeling regulations and only requires that packaged products with oats as an ingredient contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten overall.

While it may resemble a grain like barley, quinoa, or rice, couscous is in fact a type of pasta. Both pearl couscous and Moroccan couscous are made with semolina flour and water. For pearl couscous, the semolina is toasted before the couscous is dried.

Simply crank up the heat, leave the pot uncovered, and let the water boil out. Not only does this reduce the amount of liquid, but it also concentrates the flavor and opens up the depths of the umami in your dish. Be sure to add the salt at the end, or it'll be very salty.

About this method: One of the most common ways to thicken sauces and soups is with a starch-based slurry, and cornstarch is a popular choice. Cornstarch is flavorless, easy to mix up, and versatile, which makes it a go-to pantry ingredient.