When buckwheat disappeared from stores last year, and then returned, having risen in price several times, there were many questions. One of them worried us especially: "Why, in fact, buckwheat?" Yes, this is one of the healthiest and most affordable cereals, it contains a lot of fiber, and there are almost as many proteins as carbohydrates, buckwheat contains almost all the B vitamins and vitamin PP, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron and copper.

And yet, this is not the only cereal that should be loved so selflessly. We decided that fasting or just craving for a healthy lifestyle is a great excuse to learn how to cook something new from what we have long been accustomed to, and collected recipes from five cereals that we have always unfairly neglected.

Millet

Choosing a dish from this cereal for dinner, be sure that you will get B vitamins and vitamin PP, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, copper and a very rare trace element - selenium. If you do not know how to cook anything from millet except milk porridge, and you hate that, you are not alone.

But we have already learned that millet can, in essence, be used as couscous - and make excellent light salads. And one more thing.

Millet pilav with nuts

Ingredients

Millet - 225 g
Olive oil - 1 tbsp l.

Red bell pepper, diced - 1 pc.
Cumin - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Vegetable broth or water - 600 ml
Frozen green peas - 225 g
Hazelnuts or almonds, chopped - 85 g
One lemon juice
Fresh mint, chopped - 1 tbsp l.
Salt to taste.

How to cook

Fry the cereals in a dry skillet for a minute. Remember to stir. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, sauté the onions and peppers over medium heat for five minutes, then toss in the cumin and turmeric and stir-fry for another minute.

Add millet and broth (or water), salt, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes until soft, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, fry the nuts until golden brown in a dry skillet, and five minutes before the millet is done, add green peas to it.

When you find that all the water has evaporated, and the millet looks plump and airy, the dish is ready. It remains to add the nuts, lemon juice and mint and mix.

Pearl barley

This symbol of poverty, worthy, it would seem, only of mushroom soups and pickles, is actually very good in risotto. More precisely, in orzotto, as they call it in Italy, a dish that is prepared using the same technology as risotto, but instead of arborio rice, pearl barley is used.

Barley is favorably distinguished from other cereals by the presence of choline, which is involved in the metabolism of fats, promotes hematopoiesis and improves concentration. But there are almost no proteins in pearl barley. Orzotto is often prepared with mushrooms. But you can do without them.

Orzotto with pumpkin, pepper and arugula

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Ingredients

Pumpkin, peeled and diced - 450 g
Red bell peppers, diced - 2 pcs.
Olive oil - 2 tablespoons l.
Medium onion, finely chopped - 1 pc.
Garlic, finely chopped - 2 cloves
Fresh thyme - 1 tsp
Pearl barley - 350 g
Vegetable broth - 1.5 l
Fresh parsley, chopped - 3 tbsp l.
Arugula - a generous handful

How to cook

Bake the pumpkin and peppers. To do this, preheat the oven to 200 ° C, put the vegetables in a baking dish, sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper, stir if necessary and place in the oven for 35 minutes. Stir the vegetables once during this time.

While the vegetables are baking, make the risotto. In a saucepan, heat the oil and sauté the onions, garlic and thyme over low heat for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the barley, stir and cook for another minute. Pour 300 g of broth into a saucepan. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the broth has evaporated. Pour in another 300 g, when it evaporates - another 300 g, continue until the broth runs out.

This will take about 40 minutes: the pearl barley will become soft, but slightly hard on the inside - that is, al dente.

Add baked vegetables and stir. Season with salt and pepper if needed.

Corn grits

Nutritious, complex carbohydrate-rich corn porridge can make up for deficiencies in potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium, iron, zinc and copper. And this yellow cereal, unlike all the others, much less yellow, contains beta-carotene.

Mamalyga is made from corn grits in the Caucasus and Moldova, and in Italy - polenta: in itself such porridge seems completely tasteless, but if you eat it with cheese or meat sauce ... Stop, since we are writing about dishes that can be cooked also in fasting, then no meat and cheese. Let's make a vegetarian pizza!

Polenta pizza

iStockphoto

Ingredients

Water - 3 glasses
Corn grits - ¾ cup
Salt, black pepper - to taste
Dry basil - ½ tsp
Dry oregano - ½ tsp.
Tomato sauce - ½ cup
Red bell pepper, thinly sliced ​​- ½ pc.
Green bell peppers, thinly sliced ​​- ½ pc.
Small red onion - ½ pc.
Champignons - 8 pcs.
Garlic - 2-3 cloves
Black olives, chopped - a handful

How to cook

Preheat oven to 220 ° C. Oil a round baking dish, line it with parchment paper. Boil water in a saucepan, add corn grits and cook, stirring occasionally, until the porridge thickens. Add salt, herbs and, if desired, a little olive oil to it.

Spread a layer of polenta over the bottom of a baking dish, place in oven and bake for 12 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the filling - stew vegetables and mushrooms a little.

Remove the corn pizza base from the mold and transfer it with the paper onto a baking sheet. Peel off the paper. Spread the tomato sauce over the base, top with vegetables and chopped garlic. Place in the oven for 10 minutes. Handle the finished pizza with care so that it does not fall apart.

Wheat groats

Wheat groats (yes, this is not millet - unlike it, wheat groats are made not from millet, but from wheat) there is a lot of starch, there are B vitamins and vitamin PP, a lot of potassium, magnesium and phosphorus and a lot of manganese and Selena.

Polished durum wheat is practically our equivalent of Middle Eastern bulgur.

It can be used to prepare any Arab and Turkish dishes in which this cereal is placed, including the famous tabbouleh salad. It can also be used to make an excellent Turkish-style snack.

Meatballs made from red lentils and crushed wheat

iStockphoto

Ingredients

Red lentils - 200 g
Wheat groats - 200 g
Medium onion, finely chopped
Tomato puree - 1 tbsp. l.
Salt - 1 tsp
Sweet paprika - 1 tsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Chopped green onions - 2 tbsp l.
Fresh parsley - small bunch
Lettuce leaves - for serving

How to cook

Rinse the lentils, cover with cold water in a 1: 4 ratio, boil until soft - about 20 minutes. Towards the end of cooking, add wheat grits to the lentils, boil for two minutes and turn off. Let it sit for 20 minutes, then drain off any excess water.

In a frying pan, fry the onion in olive oil, add the tomato puree, remove from heat. Combine onions with lentils and wheat grits, add all other ingredients and let cool. Form the resulting mass into walnut-sized balls and place on the lettuce leaves.