Chicken, Vegetable, Barley Stew

I love meals in a pot - it's like one-stop shopping. Healthy, tasty eating with minimal effort!

Serves 3
Ingredients
1/2 cup pearl barley
2 boneless chicken breasts (I prefer boneless but you could chicken with bones too)
1 onion
2 carrots
3 celery stalks
12 green beans
1/2 zucchini
1/2 cup chopped pumpkin
1" piece ginger
2 garlic cloves
1" piece cinnamon
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
2 sprigs fresh thyme or 3/4 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp tomato puree or 2 chopped tomatoes
2 cups stock - chicken or vegetable (I just use 1 cube of maggi chicken stock)
1/2 cup wine (optional)
Some chopped parsley to garnish
Salt to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

Method
Soak the pearl barley in a cup of water for at least 4 hours.
Finely dice onions and garlic. Grate or crush ginger. Peel carrots and cut into thick slices. Discard the leaves of the celery and chop up the stalks. String beans and cut into inch size pieces. Roughly dice zucchini. Dice chicken into 2" cubes.

In a deep bottomed pot, pour olive oil and add onions. Saute until transparent and then add ginger, cinnamon sticks and garlic. Next, add all the vegetables and chicken and saute on high for 2-3 minutes. Add the turmeric, coriander and cumin powders, followed by the chilli powder. Add the stock, thyme, tomato puree, salt, and wine. You could also add ground black pepper. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Rinse the barley and add to the soup. Mix, cover and cook for another 20 minutes or until the barley is done. To serve, garnish with chopped parsley and serve with any bread - I like a hard crust, multi-grain bread.

Note: This recipe is very adaptable and a great way to use up smaller quantities of vegetables and/or meat that are languishing in the fridge. For variations, use lamb instead of chicken. You can also replace pearl barley with pre-soaked kidney beans (rajma) or chickpeas (kabuli channa) or any lentils.