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Main dishes

Kuba: Czech baked barley with dried mushrooms

Name: Kuba: Czech baked barley with dried mushrooms
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 250 g Pearl barley; 30 g Dried porcini mushrooms (or other dried mushrooms); 750 ml Water (for the barley); 2 Onions; 4 Garlic cloves; 60 g Butter; 2 tsp Marjoram (dried); 1 tsp Salt; 1/2 tsp Ground black pepper

A meatless Czech barley bake with dried mushrooms, sautéed onions, garlic, and marjoram, baked until crisp on top. Serves 4.

Vegetarian · Translated from Slovak · October 24, 2026

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Recipe at a glance

Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 hr 10 min
Total time: 1 hr 25 min
Servings: 4 servings
Difficulty: Easy

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Kuba is a traditional meatless Christmas dish made with pearl barley and dried mushrooms, cooked, mixed with sautéed onions, garlic, and marjoram, then baked. It comes from Czech cuisine and is especially popular on Christmas Eve, but it also makes a satisfying main dish or side throughout the winter.

Ingredients

4 servings

Pearl barley 250 g
Dried porcini mushrooms (or other dried mushrooms) 30 g
Water (for the barley) 750 ml
Onions 2
Garlic cloves 4
Butter 60 g
Marjoram (dried) 2 tsp
Salt 1 tsp
Ground black pepper 1/2 tsp

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Instructions

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Soak the mushrooms
Rinse the dried mushrooms, cover with 300 ml lukewarm water, and let soak while the barley cooks.
Cook the barley
40 min
Rinse the barley in a strainer, add 750 ml water and salt, and cook, covered, for 35–40 minutes, until tender. Drain any remaining water.
Simmer the mushrooms
15 min
Lift the mushrooms out of the soaking liquid and chop them. Strain the soaking liquid through a fine-mesh strainer, then simmer the mushrooms in it for 15 minutes, until tender and the liquid has almost evaporated. Meanwhile, finely chop the onions and sauté them in half the butter until golden.
Bake
25 min
Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F). Mix the barley with the mushrooms, onions, pressed garlic, marjoram, and pepper. Adjust the salt and transfer to a greased baking dish. Cut the remaining butter into pieces and scatter over the top. Bake for 25 minutes, until the top is crisp.

Tip: Save the mushroom soaking liquid, which holds most of the flavor. Straining it through a paper towel catches even fine grit that could otherwise make the dish gritty.

Nutrition facts

Approximate values per serving, calculated from the ingredients

Energy: 379 kcal
Protein: 8.0 g
Carbohydrates: 61 g
of which sugars: 2.9 g
Fat: 13 g
of which saturates: 7.8 g
Fiber: 12 g
Salt: 1.5 g

Calculated from the raw ingredients, without frying oil. Where an amount is “to taste”, typical amounts are used. Food composition: USDA FoodData Central and product labels.

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Kuba – krúpy so sušenými hubami, cesnakom a majoránom