Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Kasha in Honor of Rosh Hashanah

Try saying that ten times fast.

My local (and I mean local, I live about 500 feet from it) grocery store is very good about carrying Jewish food items. During Passover, they always have a wide variety of Shabtai Gourmet foods which I highly recommend in the packaged-gluten-free-dessert category, but yesterday in their dedicated Rosh Hashanah section I noticed kasha, which is buckwheat in it's full-on grain form. I had purchased kasha before and I didn't know what to do with it and ended up making a dish that was pretty boring, but this brand -- Wolff's, has recipe suggestions on the back of their box and label their product "gluten-free" right on the front. Very smart, Wolff's, very smart!

Now a disclaimer: I'm not Jewish. I'm not even Jew-ish. So, I'm not sure how this is actually supposed to taste and honestly, the smell of the kasha put me off at first -- I didn't know what to make of it. But, the texture and the taste won me over: hearty and nutty. So, if you're looking for a new gluten-free grain to experiment with, give kasha a try.

Wolff's Kasha (with a few additions of my own)

1 small onion, chopped
1/2 to 3/4 cup mushrooms, chopped
oil to saute in

2 cups vegetable or chicken broth (or water)
2 tablespoons margarine (gf/df)

1 cup kasha
1 egg white

salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
6 dried apricots, chopped

In a skillet on medium heat, saute the onion and mushrooms for about five minutes. Meanwhile, place the broth and margarine in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. While that is happening, coat the cup of kasha with the egg white. Take the onion and mushrooms out of the pan and set aside. In the same pan on medium-high heat, add the egg white/kasha mixture and cook until the grains seperate -- about three minutes. Next, add the boiling broth/margarine mixture, salt, pepper, thyme, nutmeg and apricots. Cover tightly with a lid and cook for about ten minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Taste for seasoning and add whatever it needs.

I might try this with curry next time.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love kasha! My mom used to make it this way all the time. Now I even like it plain, or in salads. . . glad you gave it a try!

Tiffany said...

Huh, good to know! I'm not Jewish, either, but I am always willing to try something new!

Kate said...

I love kasha -- I used to eat it in Poland all the time. We would often make it plain and then put some kind of stew over it. In Poland you could also get boil-a-bag versions so it was easy. I've never seen a recipe use egg white like that before -- very interesting! I'll be trying it.

Marlow said...

Ooh! This sounds good! The mixture of onions, mushrooms, and such sounds GOOD!!!

Liz said...

I am in love with the texture, Ricki. I can see how it would go well in salads and soups too.

Tiffany, I totally recommend it -- it was so simple to cook too.

Very interesting Kate. I can't figure out why the egg-whites are necessary, but I may try it without sometime. Pleeeeeease post some of your Polish recipes sometime. They rock.

It's perfect for fall Marlow and I think pretty much any other vegetable would work well in it too.

Jen said...

I love it "not even Jew-ish" too funny, this looks good, I will have to try it!

Emilia said...

I didn't actually know that kasha was buckwheat, I've heard the word kasha and thought (for some mysterious reason) that is was some exotic grain.

I will try this, it sounds delicious, and very different from the stuff I usually eat :)

Anonymous said...

I like buckwheat in the morning. You can dump a bunch into a slow cooker at night with something like 7 times for a liquid (!) and it's all creamy and toasty in the morning. Add some frozen blueberries, honey/maple syrup, and some walnuts and you've got yourself breakfast for nearly a week!

Liz said...

Hha! Thanks for noticing my lame joke Jenny!

I was clueless too about kasha, Emilia. Let me know if you end up using it in anything.

What a great idea Sally! I think I will be trying this and it'll be more nutritious than my brown rice porridge.