Here is a simple, throw-it all-in-the-pot, recipe for a good winter vegetable and barley soup. To make this coup parve simply use non-meat chicken stock or chicken soup powder.

Ingredients:

A pot full of water/chicken stock

If not using liquid chicken stock then 2 heaped tablespoons chicken soup powder

1 potato

1carrot

1onion

Small bunch of fresh dill

Butternut

2 sticks of celery

A handful of barley (I suppose that’s about 1/2 a cup)

Salt

I have named the vegetables I used on the particular day that I wrote this but you could add any of the following and I have made this soup using all of them: pumpkin, broccoli, cabbage, peas, sweet potatoes/yams, baby marrow, white and red beans – but they must be soaked over night or lentils.

Method:

Put a pot of water or the stock on to boil.

Cut up all the vegetables.

Throw it all into the pot.

Bring to the boil and then add the chicken soup powder and salt.

Taste the soup and add more powder or salt to suit you. Let it cook until the vegetables are soft but most importantly until the barley is soft.

A note about barley:All barley (apart from some sold in health stores) has had the outer hull removed. Plain Barley, which has had the hull remove but apart from that is whole and high in bran, requires about 45 minutes to an hour to cook; and Pearl Barley or Peabarley which has been processed a little more and had the bran removed, is still healthy, but has a shorter cooking time of 30 minutes.