Posted by Willow Jarosh on Tue, May 18, 2010
A few weeks ago I was compiling a grocery list and I had a realization: When it comes to cooking whole grains at home, I'm sort of boring. I pride myself in being an adventurous eater, I enjoy trying new foods, and I often eat a variety of whole grains when I hit the salad bar at work or a restaurant. But as I wrote my list, I realized that my pantry has a constant supply of brown rice/wild rice blend and quinoa. It never changes... until now.
Just last week, I started adding wheat berries to my shopping list. (Wheat berries are the most unrefined version of wheat you can eat—they're just the wheat kernel with the inedible hull removed. If you were to grind wheat berries up, you'd get whole wheat flour; chop them up and you'd get bulgur wheat.) They're my favorite whole grain to scoop onto my salads at the salad bar at work. They are nutty in flavor and slightly crunchy in texture, and they give salads a heartiness that turns them into a satisfying meal. But I'd never made them at home because I'd always heard that they took forever to cook and required overnight soaking prior to cooking. Still, I decided to give them a try, thinking that if I made extra, I could use the leftovers all week and the cooking time would be justified.
I found wheat berries in the section of the grocery store where brown rice and quinoa are sold. It may also be called 'hard wheat' or 'hard wheat berries' and it comes in two colors: Red and white. I chose the red, only because they were more colorful (the nutrition information and cooking directions are the same for each). I bought a pre-packaged bag because I wanted the cooking instructions, but next time I'll look for them in a bulk bin to save money and reduce packaging waste.
Much to my pleasant surprise, the cooking instructions didn't call for pre-soaking. And while the cooking time was an hour and 15 minutes, the wheat berries simply simmer during that time (so you don't need to constantly check on them). Once my wheat berries were cooked, I drained them, mixed 3 cups with dried cranberries, toasted pecans, and citrus vinaigrette to create a side dish for dinner. It was delicious.
I put the leftover 3 cups of wheat berries in the fridge, in a sealed glass container, and used them throughout the week in these dishes:
1. With warm fat-free milk, toasted walnuts, raisins, banana slices, and cinnamon for a filling breakfast.
2. Sprinkled over a roasted vegetable salad with grilled chicken for a quick lunch of leftovers.
3. With a stir-fry, instead of brown rice.
4. With melted almond butter and peaches as a snack.
5. Mixed with feta, olives, tomato, and spinach for a side dish with fish at dinner.
6. On top of a spinach, pepper and strawberry salad for lunch (pictured in the above photo).
As you can see, wheat berries are really versatile. And they keep well in the fridge without getting mushy—mine lasted a full week. Another bonus: They pack a big-time nutritional punch. One half cup cooked provides 6 grams of fiber, 8 percent of the Daily Value of iron, 6 grams of protein, B vitamins, and even a little calcium (2 percent of the Daily Value)—all for a mere 150 calories. Cook some up tonight and let me know what you do with them!