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Homemade Nando’s Spiced Grains and Butternut Squash
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5 from 3 votes

Spiced Grains and Butternut Squash

Love the Spiced Grains and Butternut Squash side you get at Nando’s? Now you can make it at home with this easy peasy Nando’s fakeaway version!
Course Side, Side Dish
Cuisine Portuguese, South African
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 4 people
Calories 165kcal
Author Eb Gargano

Ingredients

  • 100 g pearl barley
  • ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 450 g boiling water (see Note 1)
  • 150 g butternut squash cut into small cubes (roughly 1cm / ½inch cubes)
  • 50 g green beans cut into 1cm / ½inch lengths
  • 15 g pumpkin seeds
  • 20 g dried cranberries
  • 25 g feta cheese
Metric - US Customary

Instructions

  • Place the pearl barley, chilli, cumin, cinnamon and boiling water in a pan. Bring to the boil, then cover with a lid, turn the heat down low and simmer for 20 minutes.
  • After 20 minutes, add the butternut squash, stir, replace the lid and simmer for a further 10 minutes.
  • After the 10 minutes, add the green beans, stir, replace the lid and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
  • After the 5 minutes, turn the heat off and add the pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries. Stir, then transfer to a serving dish.
  • Finally crumble the feta over the top.
  • Serve with your favourite Nando’s chicken dishes!

Notes

  1. If at any point the pan starts to look too dry, add a little extra boiling water. The idea is that, by the time the dish is ready to be served, all the water should have been absorbed. If it hasn’t, simply drain before serving.
  2. Supermarket packets are notorious for suggesting cook times which are too long. The pack instructions for the Tesco Pearl Barley I used said to cook the pearl barley for over an hour! This results in an unappetising mush. I recommend cooking the pearl barley for a total of 35 minutes, which results in nice 'al dente' pearl barley that is very similar in texture to the original Nando's recipe - but of course different brands may vary and you may have different preferences, so you may need to adjust the cook times accordingly.
  3. Not suitable for freezing.
  4. Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition

Calories: 165kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.003g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 81mg | Potassium: 281mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 4187IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 73mg | Iron: 2mg