Buckwheat Kasha Pilaf with Vegetables
Last week I wrote about the nutritional benefits of buckwheat as a whole grain alternative. Because many people are not that familiar with how to prepare buckwheat, I thought I would give you a quick and easy recipe for a dinner side dish using buckwheat kasha. This kasha recipe takes about 15 minutes to make and you can vary it in any way, using whatever vegetables you have on hand.
Kasha Pilaf with Vegetables – Serves 6
For this recipe you will need:
1 cup Kasha
1 egg or 2 egg whites
2 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable stock
2-3 cups chopped fresh or frozen vegetables
Add dry kasha to 1 beaten egg (or egg whites).
Heat a nonstick skillet or saucepan (no oil needed) and “dry cook” the egg-coated buckwheat mixture. Cook over high heat for 2-3 minutes until egg has dried and kasha kernels are separate. This step is necessary to assure that the kernels do not stick together and you get a nice, fluffy product.
Add 2 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable stock . Quickly bring kasha and stock to a boil, cover, then simmer 7-10 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed. You can also use water if you don’t have stock.
**A tip when buying ready made stocks: I recommend that you look carefully at the labels. Regular stock is very high in sodium. The low sodium versions have a great deal of variability. I found that the store brand low sodium chicken broth had almost 500 mg. sodium per serving, where the organic version I used in this recipe had just 140 mg. per serving That’s quite a difference!
While the kasha is cooking, prepare vegetables that will be added to the kasha. Today I used : 1/2 medium onion chopped, 1 red pepper, chopped and about 2 cups of frozen broccoli florets sauteéd in 1/2 Tb. olive oil for 2- 3 minutes. You don’t have to sauté the vegetables; a mixture of lightly steamed frozen or fresh vegetables will work just as well. The vegetables should be tender crisp. Add the vegetables, toss lightly with the kasha and serve.
Per Serving: 155 Cal ; 8 g Protein; 4 g Tot Fat; 25 g Carb; 5 g Fiber; 286 mg Sodium; 35 mg Cholesterol
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