Side: Oriental Garden Pilaf

Tonight Beloved Husband baked chicken, and I made the following recipe to go along with it (taken from the back of a box of "Mother's Quick-Cooking Barley").  It was delicious!


Oriental Garden Pilaf


1 1/3 cups single strength chicken broth
2/3 cup Mother's Quick-Cooking Barley
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 to 2 tablespoons soy sauce


In medium saucepan, bring chicken broth to a boil.  Stir in barley; reduce heat.  Cover; simmer 10-12 minutes or until tender.  In large skillet, heat oil.  Cook carrots, celery, and garlic over medium-high heat 2-3 minutes.  Add mushrooms and green onions; continue cooking 1 minute.  Add cooked barley and soy sauce; mix well.  Continue cooking over medium heat until heated through.


4 servings

I can't remember the last time I cooked with soy sauce -- I had to go buy some!  We have been trying to avoid high-sodium products and added salt in food because of Beloved Husband's high blood pressure; we've been low-salt for so long that our tastebuds are more sensitive to salt tastes than they used to be.  Additionally, last time I bought soy sauce was before I started really reading labels and learning about the ingredients you come across in the supermarket.  So this time I was hunting for not only a lower-sodium soy sauce, but one not made from genetically modified soy.  I really only found 2 choices: Kikkoman Organic (organic foods are not supposed to use genetically modified ingredients), and Eden Organics (which is actually listed in the Non GMO Project) Tamari soy sauce.  After reading their ingredients, I was baffled: the Eden sauce listed grain alcohol and koji among its ingredients (but no wheat), and the Kikkoman sauce listed wheat (but no alcohol or koji). I'd never heard of koji, or tamari soy sauce; thank heavens for portable internet! After a few quick googles, I decided to go with the tamari. 

I used only 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce, and it was plenty for us.  I used one of my garlic scapes, chopped as tiny as I could manage but not minced, rather than garlic.  (I also tried one of the garlic scapes chopped up in my scrambled eggs this morning -- yum!)  I went a little bit over on the amounts of carrot, celery, and mushroom the recipe calls for, but it was fine.  I have no idea what the recipe means by "single strength" broth?  I just used the broth I had.