Pearl Barley Risotto

This is an old Balkans dish, which originated in Austria/Germany.

Ingredients:
2-3 tbs olive oil
1 big onion, diced
3 medium carrots, diced
1 parsnip, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 chicken, portioned (or chicken pieces)
chicken powder stock, or 'Vegeta'
2-3 cups Pearl Barley
1 garlic clove
6 black pepper corns
2 bay leaves
4-6 cups water
1-2 cups peas
1 small bunch of parsley leaves
salt and pepper

Method:
Wash pearl barley and keep in water until needed.
Heat the oil, fry onions, root vegetables and chicken pieces for few minutes.
Add pearl barley, spices and water and cook for 1 hour, or until water absorbed.
At the end add parsley leaves, peas, salt and pepper to taste. Cook for another 5 minutes. Barley should be soft, but not mushy.
If you want soup, put less barley and more water.
Always use chicken pieces with bones, as it gives better taste.


Gershla (Jecam u formi rizota)

Potrebno:
2-3 kasike ulja, maslinovo
1 velika glavica luka, crvenog, sjeckanog
3 srednje mrkve, sjecene po zelji
1 korijen persuna, sjeckanog
2 stabljike celera, sjeckanog
1 srednje pile, isjeceno na komade
2 kasike Vegete
2-3 solje Jecma
1 ceno bijelog luka, protisnutog
6 zrna bibera, crnog
2 lista lovora
4-6 solja vode (vidi razjasnjenje)
1-2 solje graska
1 mali svezanj persunovog lisca
sol i biber po ukusu

Priprema:
1- Operite jecam i drzite u vodi do upotrebe.
2- Zagrijte ulje, pa dinstajte crveni luk, korjenasto povrce i piletinu dok ne porumeni.
3- Ubacite ocijedjen jecam i ostale zacine, izuzev graska i persuna. Zalijte vodom. Kuhajte 1 sat na blagoj vatri. Jecam treba da dobije konzistenciju rizota ( kuhan ali ne raspadnut).
4- Ubacite grasak, persunovo lisce i dotjerajte okus. Kuhajte jos 5 minuta.

Posluživanje
Gersla moze biti kuhana gusto (rizoto) ili rijetko (u formi corbe); po vasem izboru. Zdrava je i ukusna zamjena za rizu. Piletina sa kostima daje bolji okus, nego meso bez kostiju.