Liking Kasha [public]
Aug. 5th, 2018 08:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
squirrelitudeSome months back I discovered 100% buckwheat pasta, and found that it was an entirely acceptable substitute for wheat pasta (if you rinse it with cold water after cooking)—it did not have the strong flavor I remember from using buckwheat flour in sourdough. So I bought a bag of kasha (toasted, hulled buckwheat) and started trying to figure out how to use it.
It turns out if you're not making flour of it, there's basically one dish that is made of it: Kasha. The groats are cooked in liquid, and some things are added to it.[1] How to Cook Everything Vegetarian has me coat the groats in egg and toast them in a skillet (this apparently helps keep them from sticking together and becoming mushy), simmer them in water or stock until all water is absorbed, and mix with sautéed onions and other vegetables... and of course a generous amount of butter. Apparently butter is Important when it comes to kasha.
I confess I found my first batch of it rather unappealing. While the toasted groats themselves smell delicious, the groats being simmered in stock smelled unpleasantly earthy. Combining them with sautéed parsnips did not help! But I tried again, this time with leeks as the vegetable (and more butter), and they were fantastic. It turns out onions and butter both dramatically improve and modify the flavor.
I think a goodly amount of my aversion to the first batch came simply from how foreign the flavor was. So much of what I eat has strong flavors: Salty, sweet, hot, sour, umami, acetic, or rich in various spices. But the kasha had none of that, and I just didn't know what to make of it. (OK, so, it's a traditional peasant food, maybe I should have expected that.)
I've kept at it, though, and I think it's growing on me, or perhaps I'm learning how to work with the flavor in cooking. Tonight, for instance, I'm having kasha with collards and leeks, and I've found that a dash of toasted sesame oil completes the flavor very nicely.
Any of y'all have suggestions for different vegetables or other add-ins that work well?
[1] Wikipedia calls it a porridge, which... I guess? But what about when all the liquid is cooked off? Does that mean that rice is a porridge? There should be a more generic term for grains and grain-likes cooked in just-enough liquid.
It turns out if you're not making flour of it, there's basically one dish that is made of it: Kasha. The groats are cooked in liquid, and some things are added to it.[1] How to Cook Everything Vegetarian has me coat the groats in egg and toast them in a skillet (this apparently helps keep them from sticking together and becoming mushy), simmer them in water or stock until all water is absorbed, and mix with sautéed onions and other vegetables... and of course a generous amount of butter. Apparently butter is Important when it comes to kasha.
I confess I found my first batch of it rather unappealing. While the toasted groats themselves smell delicious, the groats being simmered in stock smelled unpleasantly earthy. Combining them with sautéed parsnips did not help! But I tried again, this time with leeks as the vegetable (and more butter), and they were fantastic. It turns out onions and butter both dramatically improve and modify the flavor.
I think a goodly amount of my aversion to the first batch came simply from how foreign the flavor was. So much of what I eat has strong flavors: Salty, sweet, hot, sour, umami, acetic, or rich in various spices. But the kasha had none of that, and I just didn't know what to make of it. (OK, so, it's a traditional peasant food, maybe I should have expected that.)
I've kept at it, though, and I think it's growing on me, or perhaps I'm learning how to work with the flavor in cooking. Tonight, for instance, I'm having kasha with collards and leeks, and I've found that a dash of toasted sesame oil completes the flavor very nicely.
Any of y'all have suggestions for different vegetables or other add-ins that work well?
[1] Wikipedia calls it a porridge, which... I guess? But what about when all the liquid is cooked off? Does that mean that rice is a porridge? There should be a more generic term for grains and grain-likes cooked in just-enough liquid.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-07 03:13 am (UTC)Oh god yes. That plus salt and pepper == heaven.
Okay, so.
Kasha comes in two basic form factors: whole and granulated. Cooked granulated kasha basically turns into something with the consistency of mashed potatoes. Boiled whole kasha turns into the consistency of mashed potatoes with a lot of granular texture. If you do the egg thing before boiling, you get a pot full of cooked individual grains, with a consistency not unlike rice.
If you're willing to do the egg thing with whole kasha, you are on track to bring kasha into its highest form, kasha varnishkes. Kasha with bowtie egg noodles. Does not work without the egg preparation.
Now, you're vegetarian, yes? Most of my approaches to kasha are very carnivorous, so I'm maybe not the best help. But the classic stuffing mix of carrots-celery-mushrooms-onions is probably also nice. I wonder if there's something agreeably complementary with portabella mushrooms, since they are often meatily umami.
no subject
Date: 2018-08-07 01:04 pm (UTC)Mostly vegetarian, yes. Meat maybe once a month. I do have some ground turkey that I've been trying to figure out what to do with, but I like the idea of carrots, celery, mushrooms, and onions. I'm pretty ambivalent about portobello, but I do have some dried shiitake I could use... I'll give it a shot and post about the results. Thanks for the suggestions!