Pearl Barley Risotto

So this recipe is one I made whilst working for Jill at Pinkerton's. I remember making it as there was no one else there that day and I was left to my own devices to attempt this recipe how I wanted.
I have tweaked it and changed it to my liking, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

This recipe serves 2 people as a main course, 4 as a starter.
You will need:
50ml olive oil
180g/just under 1 cup of pearl barley 
1 onion finely chopped
1 small clove garlic, crushed
450ml good quality chicken stock (or vegetable if you are cooking for vegetarians)
170ml red wine
2.5 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp chopped chives, or chopped parsley
optional: sautéed mushrooms

The first thing I do is to heat the oil in a heavy based pan while I weigh out the pearl barley. When the oil is good and hot, add the pearl barley to the pan and stir to coat in the oil. Keep it on a medium-low heat. This part takes up to five minutes, as you want to get the pearl barley really good and toasted. When it starts to smell like you are cooking popcorn, you are nearly there!

Once the barley is toasted, I add my finely chopped onion and my clove of garlic and stir it around. I cook the onion and garlic with the barley for about 10 minutes on a low heat to soften the onion. (*You can stop here after softening the onion, and leave it like this to finish with later if you like).

Once your onion is slightly soft (about 10 minutes), add your stock, red wine and soy sauce to the pan. (If you are coming back to this, heat up your onion mixture until hot, then add stock, red wine etc.) Bring it up to the boil and then turn the heat down low and simmer for about 30 minutes. At this point it will look like there is so much liquid, but believe me when I say it will all get absorbed!

Once your pearl barley has absorbed most of the liquid, taste it and add more liquid if it needs slightly longer cooking. It should still have a bit of a bite to it.  You want there to still be a little liquid, more like a sauce to coat the pearl barley.

Top with some chopped chives (or parsley, or whatever is to hand) to add some colour to the dish. Last time I made this dish I was serving it to friends and I had some amazing porcini mushrooms. I simply sautéed them in a little butter and oil, and topped the risotto with the mushrooms. If you don't have mushrooms, this dish is perfect on its own, or with some crusty bread!