Buckwheat Porridge

Buckwheat porridge or 'Kasha' is a common breakfast food in Slavic Europe. While great for breakfast with milk or just plain boiled, I concocted this hybridized version- Slavic buckwheat meets Indian Khicdi  for a quick dinner last evening.

All you health food aficionados, give this a try. High in fiber, contains all eight essential amino acids and gluten-free. Best of all cooks quickly with minimal interference.

Ingredients (Serves 1):

Buckwheat: 1/4 cup

Did not have cream, hence substituted with leftover cheese powder from Pizza Hut

Egg: 1 boiled
Butter: 1 tbsp
Cream: 2 tbsp
Garlic: 1 clove, chopped finely
Green chilli: 1 small, shredded
Green coriander:  1 tbsp, chopped
Pepper: 1 tsp
Salt: To taste



 

Preparation (Cooking time 25 mins):

Roast buckwheat with salt for 5 mins in microwave at medium setting. You can skip this step, but I feel it enhances the texture and flavour. 

Add 1 cup water to the roasted buckwheat, garlic, chilli and microwave at medium setting for 15 mins.

Fluff the mixture, the buckwheat should be breaking out of their shell. Add 1/4 cup water. Stir in butter, cream/ cheese, pepper and cook at low setting for 5 mins. 




 
 


Fluff mixture again and leave for 5 mins so that excess water is soaked up. Garnish with egg and coriander. Serve hot.

Summer Dacha Salad

Ok, this salad has nothing to do with a 'dacha', but I was introduced to a variant of this by a friend while we were discussing Russian summers. Hence my Marketing twist- Summer "Dacha" Salad.

It's a quick nifty one, barely takes five mins to throw together. Extremely healthy, and high in fibre, protein and water. So here's to a quick recipe for summers- in Russia or anywhere else. 



Ingredients (Serves 2):
 
Cucumbers- 3 medium
Tomato- 2 large
Dill- 1 handful
Corriander- 1 handful
Boiled eggs- 3 (Soft)
Sour Cream- 250 gm
Salt- To taste



Preparation (5 mins):

Shell eggs, mash with sour cream (Its easier this way than the way I did which was mixing cream at the last). Chop vegetables, add to the mashed eggs. Add salt to taste. Whisk and serve. If you want you could add any other herbs that you feel like, I had dill and coriander left over from the previous two nights cooking.

приятного аппетита!