There is nothing more popular in my house than buckwheat kasha.

Buckwheat with butter, buckwheat with milk, buckwheat with chicken broth, buckwheat with mushrooms, buckwheat with kotleta, buckwheat pancakes …  It is a well recorded love affair and the most well regarded grain in my Family.

Strictly speaking, buckwheat is not a grain. It’s a pseudo-cereal. That’s why it’s full name is buckwheat groats. But I usually find it in the company of grains at the store.

Historically, Russia produced more buckwheat than any other country. The Russian name for buckwheat is ‘grechka’, which means “of Greece”. Apparently, that’s where buckwheat came from, eventually making it’s way to Russia, as did Orthodox Christianity, iconography, and my great-grandmother, Olga.

It’s interesting that, although the mountainous area of Yunnan in China is noted as the possible origin of buckwheat, most of my Chinese friends were not familiar with buckwheat groats. Perhaps, it got overpowered by rice. It seems like in Asia, buckwheat flour is used for noodles and other dishes but not buckwheat groats.

In Russia and Ukraine, it has remained the key cereal. There has been a good reason for Russian fascination with buckwheat. In addition to being gluten free it is full of vitamins and minerals, and it contains resistant fiber that lowers blood sugar after meals. It improves diabetes and it’s good for weight loss. It also provides a high level of protein. The nutritional value of buckwheat is considerably higher than of any other grain. So stay slim and healthy by eating kasha.

The word ‘kasha’ in the English language stands for buckwheat porridge, while in Eastern European and Russian languages, kasha means porridge made from any grains boiled in milk or water.

In case you are wondering, buckwheat has been here in the U.S. for a long time. You can check with the folks at Birkett Mills in upstate New York, which was established in 1797 and they have been producing buckwheat products ever since. Yet, kasha was popularized in the US by Russian, Jewish, Polish and Ukrainian immigrants. In the Jewish community it was mixed with pasta and was called kasha “varnishkes.”

I can talk about buckwheat for hours, but lets get down to business.

Let’s cook some kasha.

In my house, the most popular recipe for kasha is the simplest one. It is boiled with water and salt, and eaten with butter, or milk, or chicken broth. It can be eaten as a side dish or as a main dish.

To make good quality kasha, we need two cups of hot water, a tea spoon of salt, a table spoon of olive oil and half stick of butter for each cup of buckwheat groats.

As the Russian saying goes “Кашу маслом не испортишь” (You cannot spoil kasha with too much butter), but I would stick with the recipe above. I prefer to use Irish butter.

Some folks complain that their kasha comes out too dry or too mushy. For best results, I have a special round Dutch oven that I use only for kasha.

Using the right saucepan is important. I start by mixing olive oil and buckwheat groats in the Dutch oven, turn the medium heat on and saute it for a couple of minutes – make sure you don’t burn it. Add salt and hot water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the water is absorbed by the groats. This cereal benefits from slow cooking. Turn off the heat when it’s soft to taste.

Add butter, fluff and let it stand for 30 minutes or more.

I like it plain, but adding fried onion and/or fried mushrooms to kasha are popular options. I also use kasha as a side dish with meat or fish. Kasha can be reheated as needed, but it is best when fresh.

 

Enjoy!

Buckwheat flour is another well-known product that is used for buckwheat pancakes, which are usually yeast-based and are called ‘blini’ in Russia, ‘galettes’ in France and just pancakes in America. Buckwheat is a good honey plant and buckwheat honey is dark, flavorful and goes well with buckwheat pancakes.

But that will be another story.

P.S. All the food featured in this post has been prepared and photographed by me.