Whole-barley vegetable stew (ghiveci)

Ingredients

• 4 medium onions (600 g)
• 3 tomatoes (450 g)
• 1 small zucchini (250 g)
• 1 medium carrot (80 g)
• 1 large gogoșar pepper (200 g)
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper (150 g)
• 1 hot pepper (10 g)
• 1 cup (200 ml) whole barley
• 100 ml olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch hot pepper paste (1 g)
• 1000 ml water
• 15 g fresh parsley

Preparation

1. Clean and wash the vegetables. Cut the carrot into ribbons with a vegetable peeler, peel and finely chop the tomatoes, then slice the gogoșar pepper and bell pepper into strips, dice the onion and zucchini, and slice the hot pepper into rounds. Prep takes about 20 minutes. 2. Heat 100 ml olive oil in a pot. Sauté the onion, gogoșar pepper, bell pepper and carrot for 8 minutes, stirring, until the onion turns translucent and the strips soften slightly. 3. Add the zucchini, whole barley, salt, chopped tomatoes, hot pepper paste and hot pepper. Stir, pour in 800 ml water and bring to a boil in about 5 minutes. 4. Simmer uncovered for 50 minutes. Gradually add up to 200 ml of the remaining water if the liquid reduces too much; the barley should be soft when you chew it. 5. Chop the fresh parsley and scatter plenty over the stew before serving.