Real Aphrodisiacs for Valentine's
How to Make a Healthy Snack
McBites = Modern McNuggets?
Classic Valentine Dishes
How to Scrape a Vanilla Bean
Chocolate Beers for Valentine's
Whole Grains 101(cont.)
Kamut
Kamut is an ancient relative of durum wheat.
What to Buy: It can be found as berries, flour, or pasta. We like all three forms, but the texture and flavor of the berries make them our first choice.
Favorite Cooking Method: The berries take a long time to cook, so we put them in a slow cooker on low and let them go for 6 to 8 hours.
Favorite Recipe: Kamut with Mushrooms and Blue Cheese.
Other Prep Ideas: Use kamut pasta in your favorite noodle dish.
Millet
Though it’s largely used as bird seed in the United States, millet is a staple in the Far East and is considered one of the world’s oldest cultivated grains.
What to Buy: It can be found as grains or flour.
Favorite Cooking Method: Toast 1 cup of millet in a dry, covered pan until browned, then add 2 1/2 cups of water and simmer until the liquid has been absorbed, about 20 minutes. Let stand covered briefly, then fluff and serve.
Favorite Recipe: Toasted Millet Salad.
Other Prep Ideas: Serve it as a breakfast cereal or try it in place of polenta.
Quinoa
Actually the seed of a plant related to spinach, quinoa was a staple for the ancient Incans; it’s highly nutritious and a complete protein.
What to Buy: It can be found as seeds (in yellow or red) or flour.
Favorite Cooking Method: Add 1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups of salted boiling water and simmer until the liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.
Favorite Recipe: Baked Quinoa Adobado.
Other Prep Ideas: Use it in a simple salad or try it in hash browns.
Teff
The smallest grain in the world, teff measures about 1/32 inch in diameter. Teff flour is fermented to make injera, the spongy bread served with Ethiopian food.
What to Buy: Teff can be found as grains or flour.
Favorite Cooking Method: Bring 3 1/2 cups of water to a boil, whisk in 1 cup of teff, and simmer until the liquid has been absorbed, about 20 minutes.
Favorite Recipe: Teff Porridge with Honey and Dates.
Other Prep Ideas: Try it in place of polenta.
Wheat Berries
The whole, unprocessed kernels of the wheat plant, wheat berries are chewy and have a unique flavor.
What to Buy: There are many types of whole wheat berries for sale, but the distinctions don’t matter unless you are grinding the berries for flour.
Favorite Cooking Method: Simmer wheat berries in a large pot of heavily salted water until tender, about 45 minutes. Drain and serve.
Favorite Recipe: Wheat Berry Salad with Harissa and Pistachios.
Other Prep Ideas: Add wheat berries to any grain salad or serve as an alternative to rice.
Wish it added health benefits as to why these grains are good for you.
having grown up eating kasha, and having it be part of my ethnic identity in terms of a food remenescent of my childhood, I am "put off' by comment of author relateing smell of kasha, as "barnyard"
Jennifer - have you tried soaking the groats in almond milk vs. water for creaminess / richness / added flavor? Thanks!
Good article, however it would have been nice to know the nutritional value of all these great grains!
For any raw-foodies out there, it's good to know that you can soak certain grains overnight, and eat them raw for breakfast. Drain off the soaking water the next morning and they're ready to eat with a bit of extra dried fruit and nuts. Soaking helps get rid of the phytates (which can interfere with digestion). (Cooking also gets rid of them.)
Buckwheat groats and millet are my favorites; oatmeal...+READ
For any raw-foodies out there, it's good to know that you can soak certain grains overnight, and eat them raw for breakfast. Drain off the soaking water the next morning and they're ready to eat with a bit of extra dried fruit and nuts. Soaking helps get rid of the phytates (which can interfere with digestion). (Cooking also gets rid of them.)
Buckwheat groats and millet are my favorites; oatmeal is my husband's fave...-COLLAPSE
Try cooking Quinoa in a rice cooker and sustitute chichen broth for water. Makes it tastier and easy to prepare.
I prefer to cook any of them in stock of some kind (chicken, beef, mushroom, etc) rather than water, especially if I am not cooking them with additional ingredients. It improves the flavor greatly.
Very nice feature, thanks. One of the local groceries has a whole aisle of grains and rices in bulk bags but no info on how to cook or serve them. This will come in handy.
I think the ones that don't need to be cooked in a huge pot of water and then drained can all be cooked in a rice cooker. We often do quinoa in the rice cooker and we've done bulgur as well. Just use the same proportions of grain and water.
how many of these could be prepared in a rice cooker?