This recipe is a little more time consuming, as the stuffing can take a while to prepare. To save time, you could pre-cook the barely, or even make the stuffing in its entirety the day before. It’s worth the effort and the stuffing makes a great salad or lunch on its own. It is quite similar to a recipe I have published before, from Smitten Kitchen, for a Mediterranean barley salad. You could also substitute another grain – rice, quinoa or bulgar would all work here.
For some reason, I love to stuff vegetables. I’m not sure why I feel this way – it just seems like such a nice way to present a meal. I’ve used capsicums in this recipe, but you could easily stuff eggplants, tomatoes or zucchini. We ate these as a meal in themselves, but you could also prepare them in advance and serve with a protein – steak, fish, prawns, chicken – almost anything would work. They would also be a lovely, impressive-looking dish for a dinner party – and I know many of us probably have several of those in the upcoming weeks!
- Prep Time:
15 min - Cook Time:
65 min - Ready Time:
1 h, 20 min
Ingredients
- 2 cups Stock (chicken or vegetable)
- 1 cup Pearl barley, soaked
- 1 Onion, diced
- Olive oil
- 1 small Eggplant, roughly chopped
- 2 medium Zucchini, roughly chopped
- 1/2 Red or green capsicum, chopped
- 2 cloves Garlic, diced finely
- 1 teaspoon Ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon Ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon Dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon Red chilli flakes (or to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon Tumeric
- 1 cup Natural or Greek yoghurt
- large Handful cherry tomatoes, halved
- large Handful kalamata olives, halved
- 1/2 cup Feta, crumbled
- Handful Parsley and mint, to taste
- 4 large Red capsicum, hollowed
Directions
- Preheat oven 180*.
- Cook your barley in the stock for 35-45 minutes until it is cooked through but still chewy. Add more water while cooking as necessary.
- Meanwhile, splash some olive oil in a large frypan and bring to medium heat.
- Cook your onion until it starts to become translucent, then throw in your eggplant, zucchini, capsicum and any other veges you want to add. Cook until they start to soften slightly.
- Add the garlic and stir briefly, then add your spices - I used cumin, coriander, oregano, tumeric and red chilli flakes.
- Stir well and cook until fragrant.
- Add the cooked barley to the pan, stir well and then add natural yoghurt.
- Finally, add your cherry tomatoes, olives, herbs (parsley and mint) and feta. Stir to combine.
- Stuff mixture into hollowed out capsicums. Sprinkle with a little more feta if desired.
- Cook on trays in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the capsicum starts to soften slightly. Serve as is, or with any leftover barley.
28.11.11 | 
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