Pearl Barley has a wonderful pasta like consistency, whilst being similar in size to rice, making it a good ingredient for risottos. It's high in fibre, lowers cholesterol and is good for our digestion, so go on give this recipe a go!
Creamy Pearl Barley Recipe Risotto
(serves 4)
1 Litre of vegan vegetable stock (£1.25 for 8 cubes from Ocado)
200g Pearl Barley (55p for 500g Ocado)
Cream Sauce:
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard (69p Ocado)
100ml Oatly Cream (75p 250ml Ocado)
8 tsp of Free & Easy Dairy Free Cheese Flavour Sauce Mix (£1.65, 130g, Ocado)
1 tbsp Coconut Oil (Coconut Merchant from Ocado-pricey but lasts a long time)
Half a bag of mixed frozen grilled vegetables (£2.49 750g, Ocado)
1 tbsp dried mixed herbs (70p Ocado)
Salt and Black Pepper seasoning
Bring the 1 litre of stock water to the boil and add the pearl barley. Simmer with a lid for around 40 minutes (you want the majority of the water to be gone and the consistency of the barley to be like rice).
Whilst the barley is simmering, prepare the cream sauce by adding the Oatly cream to the cheese sauce mix, whisk until smooth and thick, adding a tsp of water at a time till the desired consistency has been reached. Add the dijon mustard and mixed herbs and set aside.
Start frying the frozen grilled vegetables in a pan with the coconut oil once the barley has only 15 minutes left to cook.
Add the cheese sauce to the barley for the final 10 minutes of cooking, stirring well so the barley is coated.
When the barley has finished cooking, add the fried vegetables and seasoning, mix well and serve!
Est Calories per serving: 400Kcal
There are of course many recipes where you can make the 'cheese' sauce from scratch but if you're looking for a quick, gluten free, cheap vegan mac'n'cheese then look no further!
Easy Peasy Cheesy Pasta recipe
(4 servings)
1 tub of Free & Easy Dairy Free Cheese Flavour Sauce Mix (£1.65 from Ocado)
900ml of water
Handful of chopped basil
Tbsp dried oregano
Salt & black pepper
400g Gluten Free Fusilli pasta (500g for £1.89 from Ocado)
(Optional-Linda McCartney vegan sausage chopped into small pieces) (£1.95 from Ocado)
Boil a large saucepan of water with a handful of Himalayan Rock Salt. Once boiling add the fusilli and cook for 10 minutes. Meanwhile mix a tsp of the cheese mix with a little of the water and stir into a paste. Continue to add the cheese mix, alternated with water till the whole tub and 900ml of water has been used. Add this to a saucepan and bring to the boil. Continue to simmer on a medium-low heat until the pasta is ready. If you are including the vegan sausage then they should take around 10 minutes to fry in the Air Fryer
previously mentioned in another post. Once the pasta is drained, mix it into the sauce and top with the basil, oregano, seasoning and chopped sausage. I also like to drizzle a little bit of chilli oil over the top :)
Est Calories per serving: 330Kcal
