Sunday, December 11, 2011

Kasha with Noodles Recipe

Rice, rice, rice. Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes. I have to admit, the starch options on a gluten free diet can get pretty boring after a bit... 
This is a yummy food that my parents used to make growing up- I'm European by decent, and this is a food that has been in our family for generations. With just a teeny bit of tweaking (exchanging regular noodles with gluten free noodles), this buckwheat groats based dish can very easily be made completely gluten free, so you can have something starchy other than rice and potatoes. And if you're not gluten free, this is still a yummy, healthy dish, and you can just make it with regular noodles. This dish "officially" is supposed to be made with bow tie noodles, but it really doesn't make a difference what shape the noodles are- I just use whatever I have available (only not spaghetti). 

You can serve this as is, as it is pretty flavorful, or as a base for different foods like ratatouille.
Aside for flavor and versatility (not to mention ease in making), another reason to serve this dish is that it is very nutritious- its a good source of protein (it's actually one of those rare vegan foods that are a complete protein), iron, fiber, magnesium, manganese, and copper among other things.
Best of all- you can either make this on the stove top or bake it in the oven, making it a perfect starch to serve now that I am going on my gas free cooking challenge!

Kasha with Noodles Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups kasha (toasted buckwheat groats)
1 cup noodles (gluten free noodles work well in this recipe)
1 medium onion
3 cups prepared chicken stock
1 tsp salt (more or less, depending on how salty the chicken stock is)

Instructions:
1. Dice onions. If cooking on the stovetop, saute the onions until golden if desired. If you're looking for ease,  or baking in the oven, you can skip the sauteing.

2. Add everything else to the pot or covered oven proof baking dish.

3. If cooking on the stove top, bring to a boil, then simmer on a low flame until all the liquid is absorbed, approximately 20 minutes. If baking in the oven, cover, and bake at 350 for an hour, or until all the liquid is absorbed.

That's it! I told you it was easy!!!

Its also the perfect way to use up your left over chicken soup!

You can veganize this by switching the chicken broth for veggie broth, but the flavor won't be as rich. You can also cook this dish with beef broth, turkey broth, or any other bone broth you've already made.

Have you ever eaten buckwheat before? How was it prepared? What did you think about the taste?
Have you ever had kasha/buckwheat groats with noodles before?
Do you think this is a recipe you'd likely try out?

P.S. I just realized this recipe is not that different from rice-a-roni. Haha. But this is healthier, I'm pretty sure. And yummier too, in my opinion.

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