Ancient Grains for Breakfast
I had already decided that this week I would play around with breakfast grains when I noticed that food manufacturers are also coming up with new ideas. I rarely look at the breakfast cereals on the shelves in the supermarket or at Trader Joe’s, as it’s easier and cheaper for me to put together my own combos. But this week, as I reached for a container of steel-cut oats, I noticed several prepared mixes of grains and seeds like oats, quinoa and flax, mostly for hot cereal, that I hadn’t seen before.
I wanted to use up some of the ancient grains and seeds I have on hand — amaranth, teff and chia seeds. I tried making a porridge with teff alone, and I wasn’t crazy about the flavor, so I combined these tiny seeds with oatmeal. I did the same thing with oats, amaranth and chia seeds. The combinations were pleasing, with the little seeds contributing texture to the porridges as well as bumping up the nutritional value considerably.
When I’m planning on porridge for breakfast on a weekday morning I begin the process the night before. I pour boiling water over the grains and cover the bowl with a plate. The next morning all I need to do is heat the mixture in the microwave for two to four minutes. I might also grate in some apple, but basically, hot cereal made this way requires no more fuss than a bowl of cold cereal with milk.
Two of the week’s breakfast Recipes for Health required longer cooking, so they’re more suitable for a leisurely weekend morning. One is a grits/millet combo that I bake in the oven like polenta. It’s not cheese grits; this one is sweet, topped with maple syrup and toasted pecans. The other is a hearty bowl of wheat berries (such as farro, spelt, or wheat berries), cooked with dried fruit and sweetened and spiced with cinnamon, anise and rose water. These I cook for an hour the night before, then let sit overnight off the heat, and if necessary simmer for a while again the next morning until they are tender and splayed. My favorite way to serve the wheat berries is stirred into a bowl of yogurt along with some of the sweet broth left in the pot.
Breakfast Wheat Berries
Wheat berries sweetened with honey and perfumed with rose water and spices make a delicious breakfast on their own or stirred into yogurt (that’s the way I prefer to serve this). Whether you use farro, kamut, spelt or wheat berries (and whether you are cooking them for breakfast or for dinner) the trick here is to cook the grains for as long as it takes for them to really soften and to splay (that is, to burst at one end).
Total time: About 1 1/2 hours, mostly unsupervised simmering (plus overnight soaking)
1 cup wheat berries
5 cups water
Salt to taste
1/4 cup honey, agave syrup or brown sugar, or more to taste
1/2 to 1 teaspoon rose water, to taste
1 teaspoon ground anise or fennel seeds
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup raisins or other chopped dried fruit of choice
1/3 cup chopped walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, or a mixture for garnish
2 cups plain low-fat yogurt (optional)
Pomegranate seeds for garnish (optional)
1. The night before, combine wheat berries, 1 quart of the water and salt and bring to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 1 hour. Remove from heat, stir in the honey, agave syrup or sugar, rose water, anise or fennel seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg and raisins or dried fruit. Cover and leave overnight (or for 5 to 6 hours).
2. In the morning, add remaining cup of water to the wheat berries and bring to a simmer. Cook 30 to 45 minutes, stirring often, until berries are soft and splayed at one end. There should be some liquid surrounding the wheat berries (add more water if necessary). Taste and add more sweetener if desired.
3. Serve on their own with some of the liquid in the saucepan (stir in some milk if desired), or spoon about 1/3 cup yogurt into bowls and top with a generous spoonful of the berries, with some of the sweet broth. Top with a handful of chopped nuts and a few pomegranate seeds if desired.
Yield: Serves 4 to 6
Advance preparation: The cooked wheat berries will keep for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator. The dried fruit will continue to swell and will lose flavor, but it will be captured in the broth.
Nutritional information per serving (4 servings): 358 calories; 7 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 75 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 9 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 6 grams protein
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