Buckwheat pilaf

Buckwheat is hardy grass like plant that used to represent a large part of diet in areas where harsh climate or low-fertility soil did not support growing wheat. It is also delicious, nutritious, has low glycemic load, and has no gluten. But most of all, it is delicious.

One can use buckwheat groats in soups of course, buckwheat crepes are amazing, there is a dish called zganci for which I need to record a recipe one day, we put cooked buckwheat groats into home-made sausages, and of course buckwheat gives bread an amazing flavor.

But here, we focus on a simple buckwheat pilaf. It's great as a starch in your meal, and it is cooked so fast that you can make it with your scrambled eggs in the morning. The look below may not be most appealing - do not be mislead, this is top-shelf kind of food in my opinion.

Ingredients:

• 1 TBS cooking oil. My preference is coconut or avocado oil, by far.
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• Optional: 1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely.
• Buckwheat groats, non-toasted. About 1/2 cup for 2-3 people. I find toasted groats, sometimes sold as buckwheat kasha, awful as they seem to retain no bite when you cook them.
• 1 cup of chicken/vegetable stock, or water.
• 2 tsp dry marjoram
• A pinch of allspice
• Salt to taste.

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan on a medium heat, add onions when the pan is hot - well before it smokes.
• Cook the onions on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to brown, or at least until they become translucent.
• If using garlic, stir in the garlic and cook for 30 secs
• Add buckwheat and stock.
• Rub in the marjoram and add allspice.
• Cover, bring to boil, and cook on medium-low heat for about 10 minutes.
• When done, the groats will have just a little bite to them. Taste and adjust the seasoning as desired.
• Note, if there is just a bit of liquid left in the pan when the buckwheat is cooked, the groats will soak it. If there is lots of liquid left, it is better to pour it away.

Variations:

• Fry chopped mushrooms along with the onions.
• Stir in scrambled eggs for a complete meal.
• Use half millet half buckwheat. If you don't have a fast-cooking millet, which in the USA you likely will not have, start cooking millet first and add buckwheat when the millet is almost cooked.

Tomato lentil soup and many other soups

My initial encounter with lentils was forgettable. That was when all I knew were French lentils for which I thought they were simply too much trouble to cook and yielded too little flavor. My opinion changed drastically especially when we encountered red lentils and mung lentils. Nowadays, I rarely make a soup without lentils, I see them as a much tastier and healthier thickener, especially when one blends the soup.

The main trick I learned about cooking red or mung lentils is to start cooking by washing and soaking the lentils when I start cooking. By the time I am ready to use them, they have usually doubled or tripled in size, making the cooking process easy. Of course you can soak them in a closed container in a fridge, overnight, or starting in the morning for an evening meal, or even over a couple of days if your plans change. This is what I do with dry beans - I leave them soaking in the fridge for at least one day, sometimes three days, depending how the cooking plans go. Lately I tend to put two kind sof beans into the fridge to soak, in separate containers, of course, and then we cook them as needed in a couple of days - it's handy to have soaked beans or lentils readily available.

This recipe is for a super basic yet uber tasty variety of thick soup that I could eat pretty much every day. I see it as an example where basic cooking with a few good ingredients mops the floor with fancy stuff that many if think represents good cooking. On top of all, this soup is a complete meal, and works for people with gluten intolerance, diabetis, of candida overgrowth. This soup makes incredible leftovers. In fact, I think it is better the next day.

Ingredients:

• 1 TBS of coconut oil, or any other cooking oil. Coconut and avocado oils are my favorite.
• One onion, chopped. I prefer sweet onions, but any kind will do.
• A knob of fresh ginger. Peeled and chopped finely. I like quite a lot of ginger here, maybe even 1/4 cup.
• Two garlic cloves, chopped finely.
• Tomato sauce, 1-2 cups. Use the best sauce you can make or buy. If you buy tomato sauce, I recommend highly looking at ingredients: Look for a very short list with no sugar or corn syrup on the list, and with not too much salt - onions, tomato, salt, and maybe a few spices is all that is to a tomato sauce.
• Soaked mung lentils/dal, about 3/4 cup to 1 cup. Soak the lentils for at least half an hour to an hour at a room temperature, or in a fridge up to three days.
• One packet, about 8oz, of extra soft tofu. If you are using another kind of tofu, chop it up.
• Chicken or vegetable stock, quantity as needed.
• 1/2 TBS gochu - the sweetish not too spicy Korean dried chili. You can use a smaller quantity of chili flakes, or simply skip that.
• Optional: 3-4 chopped celery stalks.
• Salt, pepper, to taste.

Method:

• Add the oil to medium-sized pot and heat it on medium heat.
• When the pot and oil are hot, add chopped onions, a pinch of salt, and a grinding of black pepper. Watch out for salt if your tomato sauce contains lots of salt.
• Soften the onions, stirring occasionally, on medium heat.
• When the onions start to brown, add chopped ginger and garlic. Stir and cook for a minute.
• Add tomato sauce. turn the heat to medium high and bring the sauce to boil.
• Mix the lentils into the tomato sauce, and add some chicken or vegetable stock. The quantity depends on how thick or thin you want the soup to be. You could start with about one cup and then adjust as needed.
• Add celery stalks. 
• Add tofu. If using extra soft tofu, break it up with a spoon.
• Cover, bring to boil, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 20-25 minute or until the lentils are cooked. You can leave them with a bit of a bite or not, your call.
• If the soup is too thin, cook it uncovered, and if it is too thick, add some more stock.
• When the lentils are cooked, adjust the seasoning.

Serve as is in a bowl, optionally garnished with cilantro, and you can add some cooked beans if you have them in the fridge. If you are up to it also garnish with chopped raw garlic - I think it goes deliciously with this soup. Here is what we did today - we do like cilantro!

Variations:

• Green onion works great as a garnish too.
• Red lentils work great. You cab reduce the cooking time to 10-15 mins.
• Spit peas works great too. I also soak it and I think it cooks for about the same amout of time as mung lentils.
• Use chick peas or any other kind of bean, I think the light-colored beans are more appealing. When using beans, I coarsely grind the soup in a blender or with an immersion blender.
• If you choose to use green or French lentils - or any kind that has more skin, grind them too, otherwise the skin dominates the texture.
• If you don't have tomato sauce, use some tomato paste, and add extra stock because the paste will thicken the soup considerably.
• You can also add buckwheat groats, or steel-cup oats, or even millet. You'll have to adjust the amount of liquid and cooking time.
• You can add additional vegetables or use them instead of celery: cauliflower, chopped celeriac, chopped potatoes, chopped kale or collards, chopped broccoli, shreded savoy cabbage or plain green cabbage and so on.
• If you want a non-vegetarian version, you can go extreme and stir in chunks of braised pork belly, or chunks of cooked pork hock. Or cook the soup with some smoked meat, e.g. turkey drumstick or pork chops.

Stove-top carrots (and parsnips, and squash)

When my colleagues mother from Turkey was visiting Waterloo, Ontario, I first had carrots fried slowly in olive oil and served with yogurt. It was memorable, the combined sweetness from carrots, peppery hint from olive oil, and tartness from yogurt came together perfectly. I had to learn how to make it.

Thankfully, making this magic does not require spending years in a school of witchcraft and wizardry. All it takes are good ingredients and patience to cook the carrots slowly. Using a good pan helps, too. I have had success with cast iron, stainless steel, and ceramic non-stick.

Ingredients:

• Carrots: washed, scrubbed, cut into about 1/2 inch pieces. Use the freshest ripest tastiest carrots you can get your hands on. Quantity: 2lb or as much as you want.
• Extra virgin olive oil: Something reasonable to cook with, no need for anything fancy. Quantity: enough to generously cover the bottom of the pan, and more if needed.
• Salt: a pinch or two, adjust as needed

Method:

Heat a pan on medium heat. The pan should be large enough to accommodate carrots comfortably, a single layer is best, two layers is OK. Cover the bottom of the pan with oil. Start adding carrot pieces a bit at a time so that the pan doesn't cool down. Sprinkle with salt as you are adding carrots. Mix well to coat carrots with oil. Add more oil if needed. Cover, cook on low to medium heat for 1/2 hour, until the carrots are soft. Uncover. Keep cooking on medium heat until carrots start to brown and caramelize. 

Serve slightly warm with a dollop of good yogurt. Add more olive oil if you feel like it.

Variations:

• Parsnips can be mixed with carrots, or cooked on their own.
• Butternut squash works very well. You can add the depth of flavor by first frying onions or leeks, or both, in the olive oil before adding the squash. I have tried this with coconut oil too - while it changes the flavor significantly, it was very good.