# Buckwheat side dish



## Alix (Dec 13, 2006)

OK, got some buckwheat I am going to use as our starch tonight. I'm sick of potatos/pasta/rice. So, I have boiled my ham bone and I'm going to use that as the liquid. I'm going to toast the buckwheat in my frying pan with some oil and maybe saute some onion and garlic in there too, then I'll pour in some stock and let it simmer til it sucks up most of the liquid. 

My question is, do you think that is flavourful enough or should I do some other stuff to it? Add herbs? Chile flakes? Cheese on top at the end? Suggestions?

BTW, this is a version of what my Dad used to call kosha (sp?). Any Ukrainians out there with a more specific recipe for me?


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## ella/TO (Dec 13, 2006)

My Jewish recipe for kasha......mix some kasha with a raw egg. Stir/mix over med. heat until kasha is dry. Cover kasha with boiling water and let simmer until all water is gone. Carmelize some onions, with lots of salt and pepper, mix into kasha......can use some gravy over this, and/or mix with farfelle, and if needed a bit more oil, Canola preferably.....ENJOY


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## urmaniac13 (Dec 13, 2006)

Buckwheat polenta is very popular in the apline region here.  Just mix with regular polenta from cornmeal, circa 1/2-1/2, cook like regular polenta, and enjoy with your favourite sauce! Yum!


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## Robo410 (Dec 13, 2006)

buckwheat (or kasha) is wonderful and nutty in flavor.  It tends to clump together unless the egg method is used.  It works real well with medium grain rice 50/50 as they have equal cooking times etc.  The ham broth would be very tasty.  (I have Russian friends who are good cooks)


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## Candocook (Dec 13, 2006)

Is kasha the same as buckwheat?  I like buckwheat pancakes but I think the dish you are trying would be pretty bitter to my taste.
Don't forget about orzo and couscous--I know they are pastas, sort of.
Or mashed cauliflower.


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## Alix (Dec 14, 2006)

Candocook, kasha is the dish made with buckwheat and it is not at all bitter, its sort of nutty tasting.

Ella, I've never heard of doing the egg thing before. I wish I'd seen this before I started darn it! I'll try that next time. 

Urmaniac, not a big polenta fan. I like my kasha to be more grainy I guess. 

Robo, thanks for the tips. I didn't realize I could mix it with rice to cook it. 

What I actually did was saute some onions and garlic in some butter in my CI pan, then tossed in the buckwheat and toasted it a bit to bring out the flavour. Then I added the ham broth and put it in the oven with the other stuff to let it absorb the liquid. I cut the meat remaining on the bones into little chunks and added that to the kasha as I served. I THOUGHT I had some green onions that I was going to use as well, but alas, I was mistaken. The flavour was wonderful, (but I would like to have had the onions) but I let it get a bit mushy. No biggie for me, but the kids were a bit icked out. LOL. Thanks for the tips folks. I'll try the egg and rice thing next time.


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## Candocook (Dec 14, 2006)

Oh, I have made kasha--and always called it "cracked wheat". This is not at all "buckwheat" to me, which is a fine flour with a very distinctive flavor.

This from Cook's Thesaurus sort of sums up what I am thinking. I think they are quite different things.

Buckwheat is loaded with nutrients, especially protein, and it has a nutty, earthy flavor.  It's most commonly ground into a dark, gritty flour and used to make everything from pancakes to soba noodles.  Eastern Europeans also like their buckwheat crushed into small groats, which they toast in oil and use to make side dishes and breakfast cereals.

*kasha = kasza = roasted buckwheat groats = toasted buckwheat groats* *Pronunciation: *KAH-shuh *Notes: *This is the Russian name for buckwheat groats that have been toasted in oil to remove buckwheat's natural bitterness and to bring out a sweeter, nuttier flavor. They come whole or crushed into a coarse, medium, or fine grain. *Substitutes: *buckwheat groats (Untoasted groasts have a milder, more bitter flavor compared to kasha. You can convert them into kasha yourself by cooking them in oil until they're rust colored.) OR rice


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## Alix (Dec 14, 2006)

Kasha and buckwheat flour are very different. Isn't it funny how can be talking about the same thing and yet use different words? Any grain can be ground into a flour. I've never used buckwheat flour, in our house, we've only ever had the buckwheat groats. 

And cracked wheat is different yet for me. It is the partially ground wheat kernel, not buckwheat. I use cracked wheat in cooked cereal and in bread.


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## Candocook (Dec 14, 2006)

Yup, but when you said "buckwheat" the thing I know best is buckwheat flour, and hence my answer reflected that.


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## creolebeans (Apr 18, 2019)

Buckwheat isn't a grain. It's the seed of a bush related to rhubarb.


Contains relatively high carbohydrate and responds to most grain cooking techniques.


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## roadfix (Apr 18, 2019)

I like buckwheat noodles or soba.    I don’t think I consume buckwheat in any other way.


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## CraigC (Apr 18, 2019)

roadfix said:


> I like buckwheat noodles or soba.    I don’t think I consume buckwheat in any other way.



Never had blinis with caviar?


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## dragnlaw (Apr 18, 2019)

creolebeans said:


> Buckwheat isn't a grain. It's the seed of a bush related to rhubarb.
> 
> 
> .



 grains are seeds ..  rice is a seed  - wheat grains are seeds, etc.


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## taxlady (Apr 18, 2019)

dragnlaw said:


> grains are seeds ..  rice is a seed  - wheat grains are seeds, etc.



The seeds of grass crops.

If I remember correctly, there are a lot of differences between buckwheat and grains, even though they can be used in the same way.

Do you call black peppers grain? Cumin? Coriander seeds?


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## GotGarlic (Apr 18, 2019)

taxlady said:


> The seeds of grass crops.
> 
> If I remember correctly, there are a lot of differences between buckwheat and grains, even though they can be used in the same way.
> 
> Do you call black peppers grain? Cumin? Coriander seeds?


All grains are seeds but not all seeds are grains. I believe grains are defined as the seeds from staple crops rather than spices.


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## dragnlaw (Apr 19, 2019)

Semantics.


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## GotGarlic (Apr 19, 2019)

dragnlaw said:


> [emoji38]  Semantics.   [emoji38]


Definitions


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## JustJoel (Apr 19, 2019)

taxlady said:


> The seeds of grass crops.
> 
> If I remember correctly, there are a lot of differences between buckwheat and grains, even though they can be used in the same way.
> 
> Do you call black peppers grain? Cumin? Coriander seeds?


If I remember correctly, pepper, as in black pepper, is a berry.


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## dragnlaw (Apr 19, 2019)

GotGarlic said:


> Definitions



meanings


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## GotGarlic (Apr 19, 2019)

GotGarlic said:


> All grains are seeds but not all seeds are grains. I believe grains are defined as the seeds from staple crops rather than spices.





dragnlaw said:


> [emoji38]  Semantics.   [emoji38]





GotGarlic said:


> Definitions





dragnlaw said:


> meanings


When people say "semantics," they usually use it to dismiss a difference in description as a meaningless distinction. Is that what you meant?


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## dragnlaw (Apr 19, 2019)

GotGarlic said:


> When people say "semantics," they usually use it *to dismiss a difference *in description as a meaningless distinction. Is that what you meant?



Never!  Everyone will have a different "concept" - no matter what the subject.  

Say the word "Ice Cream" 

One person immediately visualizes ice cream in a cone.
Another thinks ice cream sundae smothered in sauce. 
A third person will visualize the act of scooping out a ball of ice cream. 

I imagine most people will visualize white ice cream.  

Generally but not always, when I say semantics I am merely implying that everyone has their own concept of meaning.


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## GotGarlic (Apr 19, 2019)

dragnlaw said:


> Never!  Everyone will have a different "concept" - no matter what the subject.
> 
> Say the word "Ice Cream"
> 
> ...


Good to know [emoji111]️


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## taxlady (Apr 19, 2019)

JustJoel said:


> If I remember correctly, pepper, as in black pepper, is a berry.



Yup, not a grain. My point was that while all grains are seeds, not all seeds are grains. One advantage of knowing something is not a grain is that only grains have gluten.


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## dragnlaw (Apr 19, 2019)

taxy, isn't that a little misleading? or oversimplifying?

My understanding is that "theoretically" the proteins in grains is gluten but that being said the people with celiac and other allergies only react to the type of gluten found in the varieties of wheat.

I was just looked up and there are supposedly 9 popular grains that are gluten free.


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## taxlady (Apr 19, 2019)

dragnlaw said:


> taxy, isn't that a little misleading? or oversimplifying?
> 
> My understanding is that "theoretically" the proteins in grains is gluten but that being said the people with celiac and other allergies only react to the type of gluten found in the varieties of wheat.
> 
> I was just looked up and there are supposedly 9 popular grains that are gluten free.



Misleading? No. Oversimplifying? Perhaps. But, it's useful to know that those soba noodles (buckwheat noodles) won't have any gluten, if you have celiac disease or gluten intolerance without having to check which grains do. Or, more likely, if you are feeding someone with the issue. Sure, some grains are gluten free, but who remembers that barley or rye are related to wheat and have gluten? Also, it can be handy to know if you are baking bread. You will need to do something to either add gluten or substitute for it, if you are using flour that is from something that isn't a grain.


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## GotGarlic (Apr 19, 2019)

dragnlaw said:


> taxy, isn't that a little misleading? or oversimplifying?
> 
> My understanding is that "theoretically" the proteins in grains is gluten but that being said the people with celiac and other allergies only react to the type of gluten found in the varieties of wheat.
> 
> I was just looked up and there are supposedly 9 popular grains that are gluten free.



Why do you say "theoretically"? Gluten is a single, specific protein. It is also present in barley and rye. 

https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/what-is-celiac-disease/


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## dragnlaw (Apr 20, 2019)

GotGarlic said:


> Why do you say "theoretically"? *Gluten is a single, specific protein. It is also present in barley and rye. *
> 
> https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/what-is-celiac-disease/



Because *ALL* grains contain a gluten that is a protein, celiac's are sensitive to only those glutens found in wheat (and barley/rye,etc.)


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## GotGarlic (Apr 20, 2019)

dragnlaw said:


> Because *ALL* grains contain a gluten that is a protein, celiac's are sensitive to only those glutens found in wheat (and barley/rye,etc.)



It isn't "theoretical" because we know the answer. Gluten is not present in all grains - only these: 

"Gluten is a general name for the proteins found in wheat (wheatberries, durum, emmer, semolina, spelt, farina,*farro, graham, KAMUT[emoji768] khorasan wheat and einkorn), rye, barley and triticale – a cross between wheat and rye."
https://celiac.org/gluten-free-living/what-is-gluten/

There are many other grains that don't contain gluten:


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## taxlady (Apr 20, 2019)

dragnlaw said:


> Because *ALL* grains contain a gluten that is a protein, celiac's are sensitive to only those glutens found in wheat (and barley/rye,etc.)



I think you mean that all grain contains protein and gluten is a protein. The other proteins found in grain are what people with celiac disease can tolerate.


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## GotGarlic (Apr 20, 2019)

taxlady said:


> I think you mean that all grain contains protein and gluten is a protein. The other proteins found in grain are what people with celiac disease can tolerate.


All gluten is protein but not all proteins are gluten  [emoji38]


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