Roasted vegetable and barley salad with creamy tahini dressing

Deeply savoury roasted vegetables, crunchy sweet cucumbers and peppers, and a creamy tahini dressing, make for a deliciously hearty barley salad.

Does anyone else quake with dread at the words “three day yomtov”? When Rosh Hashanah starts on a Wednesday evening you know you’re in for SIX big festive meals in quick succession. By Shabbat lunchtime I just want to have a glass of mint tea and maybe a cracker, and ask me again on Monday.

Then you get to do it all again, TWICE, a couple of weeks later.

How to survive a 3 day YomTov

This year, I have decided to take a slightly different approach. Here are my new rules for surviving a three day yomtov:

• No more than 3 courses per meal (ideally only 2)
• No heavy desserts – fruit or light desserts only
• Lunches are mostly salads
• Shabbat lunch = challah + leftovers 

I’m probably late to the party and everyone else has been eating this way for years, but it feels like a breakthrough (of sorts) to me. We’ll see how we get on. Hopefully I’ll still have room for a slice of honey cake or a biscuit on Shabbat afternoon, which will be a distinct success!

Salad days

So, given we will be enjoying at least two meals of mostly salads, I thought I ought to come up with a few new ones. I always like to have at least one ‘carby’ salad like a potato salad or something with grains or rice, so I decided to have a go at a lovely autumnal barley salad with roasted veg. Yum.

Barley salad ingredients

I’ll admit that the list of ingredients for this delicious barley salad does look quite long. However, don’t be put off! About half of them are store cupboard basics, spices and seasonings, like cumin, olive oil etc. To make this salad, you will need:

• pearl barley – of course!
• carrots
• beets
• cauliflower
• cucumber
• red pepper
• spring onions – also called scallions
• lettuce leaves – optional, but it does make a nice ‘bed’ for the barley salad

And then those basics, spices and seasonings I mentioned:

• olive oil
• soy sauce
• tahini – for the lovely creamy dressing
• cumin
• fennel seeds
• garlic powder
• white wine vinegar
• salt and pepper

Barley salad with roasted vegetables

There’s a moderate amount of prep involved, but then you can get on with something else while the beetroots, carrots and cauliflower roast and the barley cooks. The veg will look like a lot to begin with but it does shrink quite a bit in the oven – see the photo below. Once the veg and barley are cool, simply mix everything together and add the dressing when you’re ready to eat. Bob’s your uncle! 

Totally yummy!

I had a reasonable idea of how this barley salad would taste but it totally exceeded my expectations for yumminess! The roasted veg are intense and savoury, and every so often a fennel seed explodes with flavour. The cucumbers and peppers give crunch and sweetness, and the creamy dressing is just delicious.

You probably won’t need quite all of the tahini dressing for the barley salad, so save the rest to dip veggie sticks or challah into, or just drizzle it over whatever else you fancy.

As per the recipe below, the roasted vegetable and barley salad is parve (and completely vegan) but I think some crumbled feta would be a fine addition. 

Serves 4-6 as a side dish.

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📖 Recipe

Roasted vegetable and barley salad with creamy tahini dressing

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Deliciously savoury roasted vegetables and nutty pearl barley, dressed with a creamy and delicious tahini sauce.

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Lunch, Salad, Side Dish

Servings 6

Calories 282 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 150 g pearl barley
• 2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 300 g carrot (3-4 medium)
• 300 g beetroot (3-4 medium)
• 300 g cauliflower (⅓-½ a medium head)
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• 4 spring onions (scallions)
• 1 red pepper
• 10 cm piece of cucumber
• Little gem lettuce to serve (optional)

For the tahini dressing

• 4 tablespoon light tahini, well stirred
• 2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• ½-1 teaspoon cumin
• 3-4 tbsp warm water

Instructions

 

• Put the barley and soy sauce in a medium pan with 900ml (4 cups) water. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and leave to simmer for 45-60 minutes until cooked.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 185°C (350°F). Peel the carrots and beetroot and cut into small dice. Cut the cauliflower into small florets and dice the stems.
• Mix the diced carrot with 2 teaspoon olive oil and the fennel seeds. Spread over ⅓ of a large baking sheet.
• Mix the diced beetroot with 2 teaspoon olive oil and the garlic powder. Spread over the next ⅓ of the baking sheet.
• Mix the cauliflower pieces with 2 teaspoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread over the remaining ⅓ of the baking sheet.
• Roast the vegetables at 185°C (350°F) for 35-40 minutes. The vegetables will shrink in size and become charred at the edges. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
• Once the barley is cooked, drain any remaining water and set aside to cool.
• Finely slice the spring onions (scallions) and cut the pepper and cucumber into small dice.
• Once the roasted vegetables and the barley are cool, mix them together and gently stir in the spring onions, pepper and cucumber.

To make the dressing

• Mix together the tahini, vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce and cumin. The mixture will clump together. Gradually whisk in the warm water until the dressing has the consistency of single cream. Mix everything well together and taste and add more soy sauce or cumin to taste.

To serve

• Arrange the lettuce leaves on a serving plate if using, and spoon the barley salad over. Pour over the tahini dressing – you probably won’t need all of it. Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Roasted vegetable and barley salad with creamy tahini dressing

Amount per Serving

Calories

282

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

13

g

20

%

Saturated Fat

 

2

g

13

%

Sodium

 

489

mg

21

%

Potassium

 

700

mg

20

%

Carbohydrates

 

37

g

12

%

Fiber

 

9

g

38

%

Sugar

 

8

g

9

%

Protein

 

8

g

16

%

Vitamin A

 

9494

IU

190

%

Vitamin C

 

57

mg

69

%

Calcium

 

77

mg

8

%

Iron

 

3

mg

17

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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More delicious grain salad recipes

You might also like some of these grainy salads:

• Balsamic roasted tomato, spinach and giant couscous salad from Kavey Eats
• Giant couscous salad with fresh herbs and crunchy nuts from Family Friends Food
• Quinoa, watercress, walnut and blue cheese salad with roasted asparagus from Tin and Thyme
• Scottish barley & smoked salmon salad with whisky dressing from Foodie Quine
• Summer herbed quinoa salad from Recipes From A Pantry
• Tabbouleh salad with freekeh from Family Friends Food
• Three bean couscous salad from Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary
• Warm rice and quinoa salad with pan fried tofu from Fab Food 4 All

If you’re looking to use up some fennel seeds, you might like to try parsnip and pea soup with fennel seeds, or dry-rubbed roasted salmon. 
And if barley’s your thing, how about butter-braised carrots and garlic with barley, mushroom, spinach & barley bake or a baked barley risotto with butternut squash.