Barley Risotto and Roasted Potatoes

Here's another one from Angela over at ohsheglows.com.  She adapted it from vegan yum yum, which is another one of my all time favorite vegan cookbooks/website. 

This recipe is amazing because -- 1. I love barley and am always looking for recipes in which I can use it, and -- 2.  I also love risotto and anything with tomatoes in it, so I was destined to make this.

Here it is:

"Yield: ~2 cups
Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry pot barley
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1.5 cups canned pureed/diced tomatoes (15 oz can)
• 1 cup almond milk (or other milk)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (provides the cheesy/creamy taste)
• 1/2 tbsp Miso, mixed with 1/2 tbsp water
• 1/4-1/2 tsp kosher salt, to taste

Directions: Rinse pot barley in a strainer and place into medium sized pot that has a lid. Add olive oil, basil, and oregano and stir well until barley is coated with oil. Turn heat to medium until barley begins to sizzle.
Once the barley sizzles, add in the minced garlic and reduce heat to low-medium. Cook for 1 minute and then add in the tomatoes, milk, water, nutritional yeast, miso, and salt. Stir well and bring to a gentle boil and then cover and reduce heat to low.
Cook, covered (with a bit of air escaping) for 30-35 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so, being careful not to burn the barley on the bottom of the pot.
The mixture should be creamy, but not soupy, and the barley will be very chewy and not mushy. Serve immediately. Serves 4 side dishes and makes 2 cups worth."

Notes:


I added 1/4 cup of okra to the tomatoes, pureed it and it came out to only 1 cup.


The milk I used was rice milk.


I only used 1/8 cup nutritional yeast. 


Also I roasted some potatoes with whole cloves of garlic and chunks of onion.  Yum.