Kasha Confusion

The word “kasha” can be a confusing one. In Russian, “kasha” (каша) stands for porridge or hot cereal. Russian kasha can be made of rice, oats, cream of wheat, buckwheat, barley – any grain. So this post is actually about buckwheat kasha. For reasons I can never understand, buckwheat is not just under-appreciated, but completely UN-appreciated in the Western hemisphere. On the other hand, I never met a person from Russia who doesn’t love it, in one form or another.

I remember when I was a child in day care, the meal time was usually something in between unpleasantry and torture (we always had to finish the food and leave an empty plate)…with very few exceptions. Kasha was one of them. It was served (this word is not very applicable to the Soviet Union daycare) with milk and some sugar, and I never met a child who didn’t like it.

If you care about whole foods – just think about cereal in a box and how much processing that poor grain went through – it was boiled, baked, roasted, steamed, rolled, pressed, packed. Can you expect anything to be left there from the original grain that grew under the sun? Buckwheat kasha is the quintessential whole food- it has maximum nutrients and vitamins with minimal processing, and it’s gluten free .

It’s not so easy to convince people to try something new, but somehow quinoa made it’s way to restaurants and peoples tables relatively recently. So why not to try buckwheat? Compared with quinoa, kasha has a very pronounced and bright taste, very comforting and satisfying, and far less bland. Served my favorite way – just a bowl with a small piece of butter that melts into it.

I am all about taste and variety, and while I’m not a dietitian or nutritionist, but I can still read. Like these numbers here:

Buckwheat also contains lots of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B and iron. Sounds like a superfood!

Apart from the simple porridge that I like, buckwheat lends itself to countless recipes. You can cook it as an easy risotto with some roasted vegetables, with no need to stand over the pot and stir the whole time time because it doesn’t release any starch. Or as a spaghetti dish with sausage, onions and peppers or bolognese sauce. It can be a side dish for a stew, mixed with pulled pork. It takes a gravy fantastically well. One of the very popular combinations in Russia is kasha with roasted onions and mushrooms. If you like Asian flavors – roast some ginger and carrots and add some soy sauce. Mix and match flavors as you like them; usually you start by cooking vegetables and/or ground meat, then add raw rinsed buckwheat, sauteing together for a couple of minutes, then add boiling water and let it simmer together. Or you can cook kasha separately, keep it in the fridge for several days and then mix it with a sauce of your choice; even cooked – the kasha will absorb flavors fantastically well.

The main recipe, or the base for the buckwheat kasha: