Kasha or Buckwheat Groats Provide a High Fiber Breakfast Cereal for Celiac and Grain-Free Diet

It may be surprising that for people with Celiac disease or grain allergies, the food items they most miss are not cakes and elaborate flour-based desserts, but some of the more mundane and homey foods like breads and cereals, including hot cereal. Such grain-based meals provide not only warmth and comfort but also necessary dietary fiber that they frequently do without.

After much trial and error, I have finally found a hot cereal substitute and a way to enjoy it that is totally satisfying. Kasha, or ground buckwheat, sometimes called buckwheat groats, is an incredibly useful grain substitute that makes a delicious hot cereal. It can also be used to make light high-fiber pancakes and a variety of side and main dishes.

As Wikipedia tells us: Buckwheat...

Despite the common name and the grain-like use of the crop, buckwheat is not a cereal or grass. It is called a pseudocereal to emphasize that it is not related to wheat.¹

Kasha is a traditional food often found in Russian and Jewish cooking and recipes. Thus, it can most easily be found in the ethnic or foreign foods section of supermarkets as well as at health food stores.

One can purchase buckwheat groats in several different forms: whole, or ground to fine, medium or coarse degrees. For breakfast cereal, the fine to course grades will all work, depending upon taste. Kasha is remarkably easy to cook. A quarter cup of dry kasha will make one substantial portion for breakfast. Simply add about enough water to more than cover the kasha; one to two cups of water should do, make sure that the bowl is well covered and microwave for about two minutes, or until the kasha has fully cooked. It will increase to several times its volume. When it is ready, add a dash of salt to taste. Stir in some milk, or for those who are lactose intolerant (a condition that often accompanies grain intolerance) use one of the Almond milk products now on the market. The rest of your breakfast cereal design is up to you: one can add honey, maple syrup, raisins; nuts; cinnamon, a pat of butter.

Once you have cooked kasha as hot cereal, you may want to try the infinite number of ways it can also be cooked. It makes wonderful quick and very healthful grain-free high fiber buckwheat pancakes, for instance. Buckwheat flour, of course, has a long tradition in pancake recipes. But unless buckwheat flour is blended with another, finer (usually wheat) flour, buckwheat pancakes can be overly dense and heavy.

These kasha pancakes are light, because they contain less of a concentration of starch. Cook the kasha very thoroughly so that it is very soft. Let it cool and then beat in a couple of eggs and a pinch of salt. The starch in the cooked buckwheat blends with the eggs almost as would buckwheat flour. The eggs act as rising agents. Cook, flipping them at least once, in hot oil as you would any pancakes. The results are a light and grainy rustic kind of pancake. If you cook some extras, they can be wrapped up and used for a couple of days as bread substitutes for wrap sandwiches.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckwheat