How to make Polish barley soup?

Polish style barley soup called "Krupnik" is very easy to make and quite lean when compared to other soups. The soup is traditionally based on a pork or beef stew but it works well with vegetable stew as well.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 2-4 pork ribs
• 1 cup of barley
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 medium size onion
• 5-6 medium size potatoes
• 3-4 dried Bay leafs
• 3-4 allspice seeds
• fresh parsley
• salt & pepper

1. 
   Preparing the stew

   In preparation of the stew, pour in about 4 quarts of water into a medium size pot, add pork ribs, chopped carrots, a whole onion, 4 medium bay leaves, 4 - 6 allspice seeds and let the whole thing simmer on low to medium heat until the meat is cooked. If the other white meat is not up your alley, you can use beef instead. Vegetable broth is also an alternative if meat is not your thing.

2. As soon as you add all ingredients needed for the stew, you can also add your barley since it takes it a while to cook.

3. 
   Potatoes and parsley added

   Once the stew is ready and barley is cooked, add chopped potatoes. Continue to cook for another 15 - 20 minutes until potatoes are soft.

4. Shortly before turning off the heat, add finely chopped parsley and salt and pepper for flavor. Bon appetit!

Tips & Warnings

• Be careful not to overdo on the salt. Too much salt will kill the desired, delicate flavor of the soup.