Green Bean Soup w/ Barley

We love green bean soup!

I was working late one night one my assignment downstairs. and i can’t help but wanna find something to eat. I open my cupboard and i see a pack of green beans.

ok. i thought to myself. let’s find sago. i call hui who has already slept and she says that we should have it. then i call fish who says he thinks there’s none.

and so i go searching. there’s a paper bag filled with chinese herbs, so i thought, why not just take a look, well, i didn’t find it, but i found dried pearl barley instead.

so i thought. why not?

and tada! I don’t need sago in this dish anymore. the barley acts like the sago, it is easier to cook and has nutritional benefits as compared to tapioca balls.

This is it – doesn’t look like much, but it sure tastes good!

and is really simple to make too.

So when it was done, i called fish and asked him to come down to eat.

he tells me that he doesn’t like green beans, he prefers red beans. i force him to eat.

he takes the first mouthful. hmm. tastes like red beans (texture wise). and continues to down a whole bowl of my green bean soup. I had half a bowl and kept another half a bowl for hui in the fridge.

Ingredients

1/3 cup green beans – washed
Handful of dried pearl barley – washed
(you really don’t need too much because they thicken the soup quite a bit and i think my handful was quite enough)
A good amount of water – continually check and refill if necessary
Rock Sugar
(feel free to use normal sugar – i have no idea how to explain why i believe rock sugar is better than normal sugar – but they’re both fine)

Directions

Wash your beans and barley in a pot.

Add a good amount of water. Let it come to a boil.

Occasionally check on it and make sure it has enough water and stir it once in a while.

If i didn’t remember it wrongly, i cooked it for about 45 mins while i was doing my work in front of the stove. I just let it simmer and bubble, till everything’s soft.

Add sugar whenever you like during the process, i usually add a bit before it boils. Then when it is cooked the way i like, then i taste and add more.

 

Me LIKEY! :)