Awesome salad! Made the following changes: to the dressing I added 2 T white sugar 1 T each lemon and lime juice 1/2 T Cumin and some Chipotle hot sauce. To the salad I used all hulled barley (no rice) 1 sweet onion instead of green doubled the corn (used frozen) and omitted the lettuce. I also added some garbonzo beans chopped cucumber a yellow bell pepper and some tomatoes. Also followed other reviews about the dressing ingredients ratios. The addition of Chipotle sauce and Cumin give this salad a fantastic smoky taste with a kick! Terrific salad...will definitely make again!
I have made this several times and enjoy it every time. I have also made it for gatherings and have had recipe requests each time. I read the previous reviews before preparing it the first time and so made some modifications - double the vinegar garlic and pepper flakes and cut the oil in half. I use brown rice or white/brown rice mixed. I cook the grains together and add some boullion to the water. And I use italian parsley instead of cilantro (not a fan of cilantro). Thanks for submitting the recipe!
The recipe makes at least 12 SERVINGS at 1/2 cup. Otherwise a truly exceptional salad in taste and texture. I prefer to heat the olive oil up to about 200 degree or so and add the garlic and red pepper flakes to it. This technique always adds extra zip to oil soluable flavors in these spices. I also took the advice of those who suggested more vinegar and less oil.
This is an awesome recipe! Beautiful and tastes superb. I have made 2x now over the holiday weekend for different parties. I altered some based upon everyone's feedback...cut oil in half double vinegar red pepper flakes and garlic and add some celery for crunch. This is the best!
Very colorful and very good. I used double vinegar and half oil as suggested by other reviewers. At first I thought it was too much vinegar to my taste but with time the flavors blended well. There was no barley at the grocery store I replaced it with pearled soft wheat and it worked as well.
I enjoyed this salad; my husband thought it was ok. I thought it was better the next day after it had plenty of time to chill in the fridge. I will make it again.
What a great combination. I use garbonzo beans instead of barley and left out the kidney beans b/c I didn't have any. I followed others and 1/2c red wine vinegar and 1/4c olive oil. What a wonderful change from the typical summer potato and macaroni salads.
I love this recipe - I've made it several times. I add more rice (3/4 cup cooked in 2 1/4 cup water) and have some green Tabasco sauce on the table. Everyone always raves!
This is fantastic. I served it as a side dish today but I think it is hearty enough to be a main course for a light summer meal! The flavors all work very well together and it is hard to believe all of the nutrition it packs! This will become a staple in our house for certain. I followed the recipe as is with the only alteration being the amount of water I cooked the barley in. The package on my barley indicated a different grain/water ratio to cook so I used those directions to be sure I didn't end up with barley that was too watery.
Although my family enjoys this dish--- I took it to a picnic and only 2 people even tried it. Most of it got thrown away. So not a big crowd pleaser but tasty if you enjoy this kind of dish.
