3 cups cooked whole barley (see below)
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
2 cups hot water
1 tbsp butter
8 oz cremini mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
4 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs ginger, minced
1 tsp cracked black peppercorns
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
1 cup dried brown lentils, rinsed and drained
4 cups vegetable stock
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
finely chopped green onions for garnish

1. In a bowl, combine dried shiitake mushrooms with hot water. Stir well. Let stand for 30 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve, reserving mushrooms and liquid separately. Pat mushrooms dry, remove stems and chop finely.

2. Meanwhile, in a deep skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add cremini mushrooms and cook, stirring, until they begin to release liquid, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

3. Add oil to pan and heat for 30 seconds. Add onions, celery and carrots and cook, stirring, until vegetables are softened, about 7 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, peppercorns and 5 spice powder and coo, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in reconstituted and fresh mushrooms. Add barley and lentils and stir well. Stir in stock and reserved mushroom soaking liquid. Bring to a boil Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. Stir in soy sauce. Garnish with green onions.

* For barley: Add 1 cup barley to rapidly boiling water. Cover and reduce heat. Cook until barley is tender, from 50 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes depending on the type of barley used. Yields 3 cups of cooked barley. Whole (hulled) barley is the whole grain. Pot barley leaves some of the bran and germ intact, and with pearl barley, must of the bran and germ have been removed.

From The Complete Whole Grains Cookbook by Judith Finlayson.