Although Yassa is originally from Senegal, she plays a significant role in Gambian cuisine. It can be made with chicken or fish. It is generally prepared the following day on a charcoal barbecue after being marinated the previous night with several lemons, spices, pepper, and onions. Yassa is a lemon-pepper and onion lover’s dream, I mention frequently.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 35 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- ¼ cup pearl barley
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 6 cups white mushrooms, halved if large
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 6 cups beef stock
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Combine pearl barley and boiling water in a bowl; set aside to soak for 10 minutes.
- Heat canola oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir onion, celery, and carrot in hot oil until softened, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Stir mushrooms into the onion mixture; cook and stir until softened and brown, about 5 minutes.
- Drain the barley, discarding any remaining water from soaking. Stir the barley into the mushroom mixture.
- Stir the garlic and tomato paste into the mixture, stir until combined, then pour the beef stock into the sauce pan. Season with the oregano, salt, black pepper, and Worcestershire sauce.
- Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cook at a simmer for 1 hour.
Reviews
This soup is fantastic. I thing recipes like this are designed to play around with. I know for sure I’ve made it exactly as written as well as with changes along the way depending on my mood or what I have on hand. Each one has been perfect.
I added a 1/4 cup more barley and added sauteed pork cubes. My husband loved it!
Excellent recipe! Added more barley and some stew meat ~ my boys like meat! Delicious!
This was really good! Next time I’ll add more barley because we thought it could use more. Besides adding more barley, I wouldn’t change anything else!
We all loved this, the only changes that I made were using 14 Oz. Of crushed tomatoes instead of tomatoes paste, beef Better than Broth bullion instead of canned and doubled the barley. Delicious, hearty and easy!
This is a solid recipe, but it could use a little improvement. Most notably, you would think that this would be a pretty hearty soup…but there’s a really high broth-to-other-stuff ratio. I doubled the barley, and I’m definitely sure I could’ve quadrupled it with the amount of broth I had in there. Alternately, since the recipe called for beef broth (and it isn’t necessarily a vegetarian dish), I’m guessing I could’ve thrown maybe 1 to 1.5 pounds of stew meat in there to give it more body. Then again, I guess it’d be more of a “stew” then. Regardless, the taste is there, and it definitely did the trick on a cold Fall day. I’d definitely recommend this recipe as something that is good, different, and relatively easy to concoct.
We loved this. I had to add chicken because my family doesn’t think it’s a meal w/o meat & I happened to have some cooked chicken. I also couldn’t find my barley so I made some Japanese Black Rice in the oven and added it toward the end of the soup time. Turned out fantastic, flavorful and filling! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I loved this soup. Added a few beef marrow bones and some fresh rosemary. Used sliced baby bella and shiitake mushrooms.
Very good. I used a small can of diced tomatoes and 1 quart of beef broth for the liquid. Doubled the amount of garlic and added hot pepper flakes. I will make this again and again.
Saw this featured on the allrecipes homepage and made it… it was a tasty basic winter soup. I used white mushrooms and portobellos.
Great recipe! Substitute canned tomatoes for the tomato paste if you want. Very filling. Serve as the main course on a cold winter night!
This was good. I added more barley. It would have benefitted from the addition of beef stew meat.
So easy to make and absolutely delish!
Very good! Multiple flavors that make it very interesting. I had portabello mushrooms so I cut them up and used them instead, very “meaty” tasting without the meat!
Awesome soup. Very flavorful and nutritious. I added a couple of bay leaves for the 1 hour simmer. Next time I make this I will add a tablespoon or two of flour before I add the broth just to see how that turns out. nice recipe, thanks for sharing.