BARLEY, BEAN AND SWEET POTATO SOUP

This is another one of my favourite soups.  The combination of vegetables, barley and sweet potato makes a great soup.  Instead of cooking this soup in a pot on the stove, I used an electric pressure cooker.  I didn't saute the vegetables but added everything to the pressure cooker pot and cooked it for 21 minutes on medium pressure.  My pressure cooker has three gauges - low, medium and high.  For the beans I used dried navy beans.  You could use canned beans and of course reduce the cooking time.

All the ingredients added to the pressure cooker. 

Barley, Bean and Potato Soup

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup dried white beans (navy or pea)

3 cups water

2 tsp canola or olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

3-4 stalks celery, chopped

1 medium zucchini, chopped

1 coloured pepper, chopped

8 cups broth or water

4 carrots, chopped

1 medium sized sweet potato, chopped

1/2 cup pearl barley

1 tsp dried basil

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Soak beans in water overnight.  Drain water and rinse well.  Heat oil in a large soup pot to medium high.  Saute onions and celery for five minutes until golden but not overly brown in colour.   If heat is too high, reduce to medium or medium low.   Add zucchini and pepper and cook for five minutes longer.   Add water if vegetables are starting to stick.  Add remaining ingredients except for the salt.  Cover the pot with a lid.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for two and a half hours.   Stir occasionally.  Add salt when finished cooking.  Serves 8 to 10 depending on portion size.

Adapted from Meal Lean i Yumm