My Favorite Holiday Barley Casserole
What does a vegan make for Thanksgiving? While there are plenty of festive options, my “go to” recipe is for the Barley Casserole from my “go to” vegan cookbook, The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone.
This casserole is hearty, extremely flavorful, and popular with both vegans and non-vegans. It also tastes equally delicious hot or cold.
The first step is to prepare the barley.
And strain it!
Gather the ingredients…
And sauté the garlic and onion.
Then add the veggies.
The recipe also calls for shoyu. What is shoyu and how is it different from soy sauce? The short answer is that shoyu is natural soy sauce. Natural soy sauce is made from a combination of soybeans, roasted hard red wheat, sea salt, and water while mass-produced soy sauce is made from chemically produced defatted soybean pulp. To learn more about the differences between shoyu and soy sauce click on:
http://www.vegkitchen.com/tips/soy-sauce-shoyu-tamari/
When I made this recipe, I used Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, a soy sauce alternative. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos is a certified Non-GMO, gluten-free, protein concentrate made from soybeans. It tastes like soy sauce and can be substituted in any recipe.
The bottom line is that you can use soy sauce, Shoyu, or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos in this recipe and achieve great results!
Add the spices…
And you’ve completed the barley layer!
Next up, is the Tahini Dressing.
Blend all of the ingredients in food processor.
Mix 3/4 cup of Tahini Dressing to the barley mixture. It’s then time to assemble the casserole! Start with a layer of barley.
Then add a layer of Tahini Dressing.
Then add a second layer of barley.
And a final layer of Tahini Dressing and put the casserole in the oven.
While baking, mouth watering aromas will fill your home. And after 35 minutes, the Barley Casserole is done!
Dishes like this ensure that I never miss meat. Dig in and enjoy!
- Barley Layer
- 2 cups hulled barley
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 3 carrots
- 2 celery stalks
- 5 tablespoons shoyu
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¾ cup tahini dressing (see below for recipe)
- Tahini Dressing
- ¼ small onion, diced
- ½ cup tahini
- 1 tablespoon shoyu
- pinch of garlic powder
- pinch of paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon dried basil or ½ teaspoon fresh basil
- pinch of dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ cup water
- Pre-heat the oven to 350
- Boil 3 cups of water and add barley.
- Cook until tender (about 55-60 minutes)
- Add olive oil to saucepan and saute onion and garlic
- Add carroty, celery, shoyu, salt, basil, oregano, and garlic powder, until vegetables are tender.
- Add barley to vegetable mixture and set aside.
- Combine onion, tahini, shoyu, garlic powder, paprika, dried or fresh basil, dried oregano, and water to food processor for tahini dressing
- Mix ¾ cup Tahini Dressing to barley mixture
- Transfer half of the barley mixture to a 8 x 12 baking dish
- Drizzle half of the Tahini Dressing on top of the barley mixture
- Add the other half of the barley mixture on top of the tahini layer
- Drizzle the other half of the Tahini Dressing on top of the second barley layer
- Bake uncovered for 35 minutes