Barley Kale Tabbouleh

This recipe comes from Family Meals by Chef Michael Smith. I enjoy this recipe as a side dish to heavy meat dishes as it offers a great contrast to heavy, meat flavours with fresh mint, parsley, and dill. I’ve made some changes from the original recipe in view of my own experience making this dish.

Ingredients

• 6 large kale leaves, stems removed - thinly sliced
• ½ a cup of uncooked barley (I prefer pearl barley)
• A pinch of sea salt
• Some water for the barley and kale
• A handful of fresh parsley leaves - chopped
• 1 bunch of mint leaves - chopped
• 4 green onions - thinly sliced
• 500g of cherry tomatoes - halved
• 1 large dill pickle​​ - minced

Dressing

• 1 lemon​ - juiced and zested
• A splash of olive oil
• 1 tbsp. of honey
• 1 tbsp. of mustard (I prefer honey mustard)
• A pinch of sea salt
• A few dashes of hot sauce (or hot mustard)

Directions

1. Add barley and sea salt to one cup and a half of water and cook for 30 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed.
2. ​Put kale and sea salt into in a small saucepan with around quarter cup of water for 2 to 3 minutes, or until soft and slightly crunchy.
3. Once kale and barley is cooked, set aside to dry and cool.
4. Mix together olive oil, honey, mustard, sea salt, hot sauce, lemon juice and lemon zest to make the dressing then chill until other ingredients are ready.
5. Mix together kale, barley, parsley, mint, onions, tomatoes, pickle, and dressing in a large bowl until well combined.

Notes

• I increased the amount of kale and reduced the amount of barley as I found there was too much barley to the amount of kale in the original recipe.
• Feel free to adjust the amount of kale depending on the size of your kale leaves.
• Can last up to a week in the fridge if you need something quick to eat. Keep chilled if using it for lunches.