Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

grandma's vegetable beef and barley soup

Recipe by
Brad Nichols
Pleasantville, NY

This is my mother in law's family recipe that came with her from South Africa, and one of my favorite soups! She grates the turnips, carrots and parsnips in the food processor and it makes for a great texture in the soup. For the turnips, be sure to use the small white and purple ones - not the big wax turnips! It's very mild in flavor, and part of the regular winter rotation at our house. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

yield 10 -12
prep time 25 Min
cook time 3 Hr
method Stove Top

Ingredients For grandma's vegetable beef and barley soup

  • 6 qt
    water
  • 3 lb
    beef shank - bone in
  • 4 c
    leeks chopped
  • 4 c
    celery, chopped
  • 5 sm
    turnips/rutabegas - grated
  • 3 lg
    parsnips - grated
  • 5 lg
    carrots - grated
  • 3/4 c
    parsley - finely chopped
  • 1 c
    barley
  • 2 Tbsp
    salt or to taste
  • 1/2 tsp
    ground black pepper or to taste

How To Make grandma's vegetable beef and barley soup

  • 1
    Combine beef shank and water in a large soup pot and boil for 1 hour, skim foam as appropriate.
  • 2
    Remove beef bones and meat. Discard bones and chop meat into small pieces and return to pot.
  • 3
    Add next 6 ingredients and simmer for 1 hour
  • 4
    Rinse barley and soak in warm water for 1 hour
  • 5
    Add barley, salt and pepper and simmer for 1 hour
  • 6
    Enjoy over rice, pasta, or with a crusty loaf of French bread!
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