Can't use barley for my chulent... what can I substitute?

If you want something to give it sticky consistency you could use okra.

Wheat berries.


(also possibly quinoa if you dumped it in at the end..but I don't think it's hardy enough unless kept on reeeeeally low heat)

small pasta

Gets too mushy by morning.

Why not? Allergies?

Orzo?

(Thanks krum and bigtoe, but I don't think the other eaters would greatly appreciate being fed okra or wheat berries... I might be able to get away with quinoa, but if it won't hold up...)

Nothing, who says you need barley in Cholent??? (although I like it)

Yoshon

um..wheat berries look just like barley. and no one knows the difference (been there ,done that..)

wow
orzo might work, never tried it.
Also I think whole wheat pasta doesnt get as mushy.

Don't try orzo or any pasta for that matter unless you want gooey, mushy, soggy cholent by morning. Really.I've tried it a few times because I'm such a carbivore..

Have you ever had a cholent that wasn't soggy or mushy?

My family often uses rice.

Actually the best counter-intuitive/untraditional ingredient to add to chulent IMHO is poi, but unless you live in Hawaii or the on west coast your chances of finding good [or even edible] poi are zero.

But that must give it a very different taste.

Navy beans (pea beans). It's not exactly like barley, but I use it every week with barley as well. I don't use cholent beans (yucky taste) and use these two. It's light, not mushy at all and just delicious.

All the time; could be because I make it without meat.

To clarify, the pasta is barely edible because it gets so waterlogged by morning.

Define cholent beans.

Most people I know actually like the chunks of meat & potatoes..

you're probably right, im just brainstorming.

my wife says: wheat kernels. although we use kamut kernels because we avoid regular wheat products.

I sometimes put farfel in the cholent in a wrap n boil bag. I drop it in (raw) on top of everything, so it's mostly in the water, but not all the way. It usually is crispy and dry-ish by morning. Delicious.

I think kidney beans. I think they have this weird mixture of every type of bean and it's called cholent beans.

Oy, just saw the heimishe brands have yoshon issues with barley this year

I second rice. We have done this when we've run out of barley or any other reason we can't use barley (other than on pesach when it's chometz and rice is kitniyos) Use the same amount as usual.

.

So far it looks like it's going to be rice.
Alternatively, does anyone have the recipe for "potato kugel chulent" from KBD?

amen! and looks aweful, too - black-ish-weird brown-ish; very unappetizing.



all different kinds in one baggy - that's how they are called in jewish supermarkets.

only small navy beans for cholent in my house

What about kasha?

I'm trying rice this week.

i've made plov (bucharian rice and meat dish) a few times instead of cholent.

my mom used to use brown rice.

we had cholent with rice last shabbes lunch. i would never have known it was rice if the hostess hadn't mentioned it, and it was delicious.

I used to stay by a family that made this in its own baggie in the chulent...it was DELICIOUS and easily my favorite part of the meal. Thanks for the reminder, melech...I'm gonna pick some up for next week.

I'm surprised none of you pinko hippies suggested quinoa...

Then you must have missed post # 3..

The rice dissolved.

I put meat on the bottom of the crockpot, made potato kugel 'dough' and dumped it on top. 'Twas enjoyed, but didn't measure a thing. Oops.

Never happened to us... what were the other ingredients?

I used Thai Jasmine rice. . . it seems to cook kind of quickly, so maybe that was the problem. Regardless, it turned out very well.

by us rice would get sticky and gross.

I found the best option for cholent is the brown rice. They are the least sticky and mushy.

We use only brown rice.

Was that a good or bad thing?


So you skipped the rice/barley issue altogether? Also, when you put meat on the bottom, doesn't it dry out too much? I find that unless meat is all the way on top (I'm talking cubed stew/chulent meat) it gets too dry/hard.

Yup, but now we have enough to last until Pesach. Yay!
It didn't dry out at all... I used a strip of flanken and cut it into chunks.