Asian Style Barley Salad

In an effort to keep quick healthy meals readily available I'm trying to build up my arsenal of cold salads. This was my first attempt with barley and I'm really happy with it. This will definitely be a recurring item.

A Couple of Things:

For a more protein centric meal use two chicken breasts. Also, I used a full head of kale which really loads this up with greens, feel free to adjust this to your taste. I got the inspiration for this from a recent article in Better Homes & Gardens about creating salads with different types of grains.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Pearl Barley
3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
3-5 Tbsp. Water
1 Boneless-Skinless Chicken Breast

2 Tbsp. Rice Vinegar

About 6 oz. Mushrooms, Sliced

Head of Kale

Bunch of Cilantro

Sesame Seeds

1-2 Limes

Process:

Cook the barley: Bring 2 Cups of water to a boil, add barley, cover and simmer for 40 minutes. This will make approximately 3 Cups.

While the barley cooks add the Soy Sauce and 3 Tbsp. of water to a medium pan over medium heat. Add the chicken breast and cook for about 5 minutes on each side, or until done, adding more water if necessary. Remove chicken from the pan to cool, turn off the heat and immediately add the mushrooms to the pan so they can soak up a little bit of the soy flavor. Cut the chicken into cubes.

When the barley is done transfer it to a mixing bowl and, while still hot, stir in the rice vinegar. Next add the kale, really mix it in so the heat will wilt and soften it up a bit. Add the mushrooms with any sauce left in the pan and the chicken. At this point the salad should be cooled down quite a bit. Add the cilantro. Refrigerate until ready to eat. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and top fresh lime juice.