So I’ve finally been nagged into eating more whole grains - buckwheat, millet, quinoa, etc. I’ve been reluctant partly because I have no idea how to cook the damn things and make them taste nice. Other than putting barley in my soup, I’ve got no clue.
Do any of you eat whole grains as often as we’re supposed to? How do you eat them?
So, while I google to find something appetizing, share your ideas here !
Most of them can be cooked in a similar way to rice, but may require a different proportion of water. Try 4-to-1–you can always drain the cooked grain if that is too much. The simplest way to use them is to make pilaf. Sautee onion, garlic, celery etc., in oil, add the grain and stir for a minute or so, then add you liquid. This can be water, broth or a mixture. Serve as a side dish to whatever.
You can also use the grains to make casseroles, similar to the way you might use rice or pasta. I’d invest in a really good vegetarian cookbook, which seem to have more of these sorts of recipes. Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone is nice, as are any of the Moosewood cookbooks.
I also like to eat different kinds of grains for breakfast, like you would eat oatmeal–with milk, sugar, cinnamon, and raisins.
I eat a fair amount of whole grains. Here’s my thoughts:
Don’t eat the nasty ones. Quinoa, not to put to fine a point on it, sucks ass. Just because something has a fancy name and costs $2.99 a pound at the local feed & seed store doesn’t mean it’s tasty. Find the ones you like, and eat those.
Me, I mostly stick with brown rice and whole wheat flour. Whole wheat bread is a staple, and whole wheat tortillas aren’t bad at all. If you’ve ever baked bread from scratch, you know that it’s a lovely way to kill an afternoon. Homemade bread can be entirely whole-wheat if you want, or you can add in some seven-grain cereal or other whole grains for extra flavor.
Do you make stir-fries or curries? Both of these, IMO, taste much better when eaten over brown rice.
Daniel
I try to eat brown rice everyday.
DanielWithrow is right, quinoa is nasty, it looks like curled up worms!
Lately i’ve been buying whole grain cereal from the natural food store. Right now its Kamut Flakes. add some soy milk, yum!
Go get The splendid grain from your friendly neighborhood local library. There will be other whole-grain cookbooks, too. There are some nice recipes out there.
I like quinoa. It does look weird, though, and it’s pricey.
Peach, Daniel! Get thee behind me!
Quinoa rocks! At least if you cook it right. (It does however look like little worms at times, but I won’t tell you how I came to notice this.)
My good ol’ Peace Corps Ecuador cookbook (couldn’t send us suburanite do-gooders out to the campo without a few recipes - we’d have starved) had a great recipe for a quinoa tortilla. Actually this is more like a vegetarian burger but hey . . .
The recipe is at home, I’m at work, but I’ll give you the basic idea.
You can toast raw quinoa in a dry pan to get a nuttier flavor or cook it as is. You’ll want to cook a cup or two of quinoa in salted water. It does absorb some water, but not as much as rice, if I remember correctly. Mix your cooked quinoa with oatmeal, grated carrot, diced onion, garlic, spices of your choice (I like cumin), an egg or two, and some oil. Mix it up and form it into patties that you’ll fry in some more oil. Vary the proportions of ingredients until the mixture is on the wet side of firm. They won’t stay together like felafel, but they are pretty good nonetheless.
cj
Basic Quinoa Recipe
Rinse quinoa in fresh water using a strainer.
1 C quinoa
2 C water
pinch sea salt
-boil water, add quinoa, reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed (15-20 minutes)
toast quinoa for a nutty flavor
Quinoa Tortilla
2 cups quinoa
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 grated carrots
1 purple onion
1 tsp parmesan
3 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tblsp oil
mix and fry patties
(I like to add cumin as well)
cj finn, I’ve been exorcised a couple times before, but never has an exorcism of me begun with the word “Peach.” Wha-?
Anyway, that actually sounds like a halfway decent recipe. When I’ve eaten quinoa before (two or three times), it’s tasted like someone cooked sand down until the sand turned soggy. A yucky, watery, slightly gummy mess. But add some flavor (like the cumin, the eggs, the vegetables, etc.), and it might not be bad.
Daniel
Edit – oh, I just realized that the only other person who agreed with me on quinoa was named Peach. Oops! 
I thought you were some weird fundamentalist fruitarian or something.