Grænkálsbyggottó

Kale and pearl barley risotto

Here I have a recipe from the “always vegan” category on the topic of “Iceland vegan”.

Barley pearls ( bankabygg ) are actually a typical part of traditional Icelandic cuisine. In the past, barley was used quite naturally as a side dish, but also for groats, desserts or the production of meat and sausage products.

With the introduction of the new, imported foods pasta and rice, pearl barley was increasingly displaced in everyday Icelandic cuisine. Noodles and rice are purely imported products that cannot be produced on Iceland itself - in contrast to the traditional pearl barley, which grows here regionally and in organic quality.

Eymundur Magnússon and Eyglo Björk Ólafsdóttur, the operators of the organic farm " móðir jörð " (= Mother Earth) near Egilsstaðir, have set themselves the goal of bringing pearl barley back into the kitchens of Icelanders. Their pearl barley can now be found in many Icelandic supermarkets and on their farm Vallanes in the East Fjords you can enjoy a very tasty buffet with many different barley preparations.

Buffet in Vallanes

On the Vallanes homepage they also present a number of recipes that we have already published on the blog.

One of her classic Icelandic pearl barley recipes is this kale and barley risotto, which with vegan cream is definitely just the thing for vegans who want to get a taste of typical Icelandic cuisine!

Ingredients

750 ml water

300 g pearl barley

1 large onion

2 cloves of garlic

3 kale leaves

1 tsp ground cumin

180 ml vegan cream

1 tsp coarse sea salt

1 pinch of ground black pepper

Rapeseed oil for frying

Preparation

Bring the water to a boil in a large pot.

Add the pearl barley to the boiling water and cook for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop the onion and carefully grate the garlic.

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onions and garlic with the cumin.

Remove the stem from the kale and cut the leaves into thin strips.

Add the kale to the pan and let it soften a little.

Remove the cooked pearl barley from the water, drain well and add to the pan.

Pour in the cream and mix everything thoroughly.

Bring to the boil once, then slowly reduce until the desired consistency is reached.

Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

[Translated from here.]