Mushroom Barley Risotto

So, my roomie and I formed this vegan cooking co-op where we exchange food with other people once a week to help us to eat healthy, delicious food without always having to cook.  For our first swap back from the summer, I decided to make mushroom risotto because it is one of my favorite foods ever.  I have wanted to try making risotto with barley instead of arborio rice because it is way lower on the glycemic index.  I also had to make a few modifications to make it vegan.  It turned out great!

 Here is what you need to make it.

• 6 cups vegan chicken broth (I used Not-Chick'n bullion cubes from whole foods)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound each of portobello and white mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 2 shallots, diced
• 1 1/2 cups barley
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (I just used cooking wine because the liquor store was closed)
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped chives
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter

Here is how to make it: 

First, I made the broth in a pot and kept it warm over low heat the whole time.  Then, I warmed up 2 tbsp of olive oil in my big wok (you could also use a saucepan) over medium high heat and cooked the mushrooms until they were soft.  The recipe said 3 minutes, but I think it took closer to 10.  I then dumped that all (including the liquid) into a big bowl and set it on the side.

Then I put the other tbsp of olive oil in the wok and cooked the shallots for a minute until they were soft and then dumped in the barley.  I stirred it to coat with oil and toast it a little (a couple of minutes) and then I poured in the wine.  It is really important to stir constantly until all of the wine is absorbed.  Then, I stood by the stove and added the broth in about a half of a cup at a time and while stirring damn near constantly until all of the broth is absorbed and the barley is soft and risotto like.
I then took it off of the burner, added the vegan butter, chives and mushrooms with their liquid and stirred it up, stole a bowlful for myself and then covered it to cool before packing it up for my veggie friends.

Here is the original recipe that I modified to fit what I wanted to do:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Gourmet-Mushroom-Risotto/Detail.aspx

Next time, I might try making it with vegan beef broth.