Being bored of oat porridge breakfast I decided to go back to my roots and start eating buckwheat again. In Russia we eat buckwheat porridge (kasha) for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can make it with wild mushrooms, meat, dried fruit or just milk.
Advantages: Buckwheat should be on your list of healthy options well ahead of oats: it is lower on calories and fat, rich in magnesium and manganese and health-promoting flavonoids (rutin and quercitin). If you think oats are great for filling you up, try buckwheat: oats’ GL index is 40 and buckwheat’s is 14, which means the latter will keep you full for longer. Buckwheat can be safely eaten by people who have celiac disease as it does not contain gluten.
Drawbacks: it takes longer to cook (about 20-25 mins) but it keeps well in the fridge for up to two days, so you can cook three servings in one go.
Where to buy: stay away from health food shops – the buckwheat there is far too expensive (4.50 euro for 500g)! Instead go to Eastern European food shops (e.g. Lituanica), where you can find it for 1.49 euro for 800g.
Tips: buy cracked buckwheat groats, they’ll cook quicker.
Interesting: While many people think that buckwheat is a cereal grain, it is actually a fruit seed that is related to rhubarb and sorrel. Buckwheat flowers are very fragrant and used by bees to produce a special, strongly flavoured, dark honey.
Hearty buckwheat porridge
3 cups buckwheat cracked groats
5 cups water
1 cup soya milk
Small knob of butter
Salt to taste
Rinse the buckwheat thoroughly under running water before cooking, and remove any dirt or debris. After rinsing, add the buckwheat to the boiling water. After the liquid has returned to a boil, turn down the heat, cover and simmer for 20-25 mins stirring every few minutes. At the end add the soya milk, salt and butter. Let it cool before putting in the fridge.
To heat the cooked buckwheat porridge add a little soya milk and microwave for 3 mins.
To read more about the goodness of buckwheat go to Whole Foods
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