Buckwheat filler

Buckwheat seeds

It took me a while to like buckwheat, but then a friend introduced me to a rather splendid recipe, which I adjusted, as I am prone to do, and ended up with this. It's very tasteful, filling, and high in nutritional value. It is a very healthy substitute for wheat (no gluten) so if you replace the flour in the recipe with either buckwheat flour or chickpea flour, you are set to go gluten free.
Buckwheat has loads of magnesium in it, iron, copper and lots of fibre. It is good for people with diabetes, is low in cholesterol, and on the overall just an excellent form of nutrition. You should try it some day. It goes well in soups and salads as well.

Buckwheat patties:

Buckwheat: 400 gr.

Onion: 1 small. Chopped

Bell pepper: ¼ chopped.

Broth cubes: 3-4

Hotchpotch spice: ½ teasp. (composition below)

Salt: 3-4 teasp. (To taste)

Pepper: 1-2 knife point.

Sugar: ½ teasp.

Garlic powder: ½ teasp.

Water: 1 ½-2 L.

Sweet chili sauce: 2-3 tablespoon

Egg: 1 (optional)

Cheese: 200 gr. Cubed or grated.

Flour: 1/2 -1 mug.

Boil the buckwheat (if the dry buckwheat covers about in inch of your pan, fill it up with water up to at least one inch from the top) in a non-stick pan with everything except the cheese, egg and flour. Keep stirring while boiling until the buckwheat is soft, easy to mash between your fingers. If it is not soft enough when the water is gone, add more water until the mix is much like a porridge. Turn off the heat once there is only a slimy moisture between the mushy kernels left. Put your buckwheat mush in a big dish, adding the egg, cheese, and then the flour until it is sturdy enough to have a spoon stand in it.

To make patties, use a large tablespoon filled completely to deposit the mix in a skillet and spread out until you have a thin hamburger. Bake on mid-range to high-range. Both sides need to be a gold-dark brown, flattening the pattie some more while baking until no more moisture sizzles from it. Then your patties are ready to serve. Serve as meat substitute, a veggie burger on a bun, or just a quick snack. Buckwheat fills well, so one or two per person should do the trick in most cases.

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Hotchpotch spice: 

(This is to fill a small spice pot, based on an old Dutch recipe. You will get more recipes to use it in, so don’t worry.)

Dried herbs only, all ground to powder already. If you don’t have them all, or can’t get them all, go for the top six if you can manage it…or else just those you have, the top one being the most important. If you’re going for the individual spices, just pinches, mind you.

Nutmeg: 2 teasp.

Paprika: 1 teasp.

Black pepper: ½ teasp.

Ginger: ½ teasp.

Cinnamon: 2/3 teasp.

Cloves: ½ teasp.

Liquorice: 1 knife point

Mace (spice): ½ teasp.

Anis: ¼ teasp.

Cardamom: ½ teasp.

Koriander (root): 1 knife point

Substitutes

The good stuff

I know I often have specific ingredients in the recipes, but they aren’t, not really. Cooking is no exact science, no matter what the experts say. If you treat it as science, you will end up with the exact same every single time, which will lead to boredom at some point. Also, it takes the fun out of it, so if you read something about the ingredients you see here and think, “That is way too much” or “That is way too little”, try it once (the measurements are after all Samaya’s Back to Basics, and who knows you might like that) and if you don’t like it enough, leave something out, or add something the next time. Experiment! This is as much about learning about new stuff as it is about nutrition. Have fun! That is what I do every time I try something new…also, as the blog progresses, I will occasionally start adding stats of certain ingredients that I use often so that you will actually learn the kind of nutrition you’re getting into your system.

Mostly this list is because I know that not everyone has the same ingredients in their fridge and cupboards, so if you don’t have a particular ingredient, you can go through this list to see if maybe you can substitute it with something else. This list goes either way, really, and if you find some way to add to it, let me know and I’ll add it.

Cream:

Milk, soy milk, butter milk (careful this will make your meal sourer) coconut milk, almond milk…with the last two be careful, they have a taste on themselves that might change the meal. Also they are sweeter.

Egg:

Cream, Cheese, Coconut butter, Yogurt.

Oil:

Olive oil, sunflower seed oil, sesame seed oil, peanut oil, butter.

Yogurt:

Cream, milk, butter milk, coconut milk, soy milk, soy yogurt, soy pudding, kefir, cream cheese, fresh cheese.

Yeast:

Baking soda, barley vinegar, cider vinegar, egg, yogurt, whole milk, butter milk.

Vinegar:

Cider vinegar, barley vinegar, lemon juice.

Spinach:

Chard, arugula (rukola) Chinese cabbage, lettuce romano, white endive.

 

Apricot jam:

Peach Jam, plum jam, apple compote, mango chutney, mango juice, peach juice, tropical juice, honey…for the latter, half the amount because honey has a lot of taste.

Sweet chili sauce:

Ketjap manis (sweet soy sauce), sweet&sour sauce, tomato chutney, apricot jam, plum jam, mango chutney.

Cane Sugar:

Sugar, brown sugar (half the amount, it has a strong taste) honey, fructose, agave syrup, maple syrup, palm sugar…increase the amounts by ¼ to ½ since these are less sweet. Stevia…as in the actual plant leaves. It alters the taste of your dish, though, so be careful.

Rice:

Lentils, chickpeas, buckwheat, potatoes, quinoa, millet, barley, brown rice, wild rice, cauliflower, sweet potato, pumpkin…in some cases you can substitute it with Asian noodles, or even pasta, but it will depend on your veggies and sauce.

Onion:

Shallots, leek, chives, garlic…if opting for garlic, use 1-2 cloves per onion.

Flour:

Whole wheat, buckwheat flour, chickpea flower (they have a strong taste, so be prepared) almond flour, rice flour, corn flour, Maizena.

Potato:

Sweet potato, plantain, yucca, cauliflower, pumpkin.

Herbs:

If you do not have the individual dry herbs that I often use, or just don’t feel like filling up your cupboards with the whole mess of little pots, mostly any basic Italian or Sicilian herbal mix will do the trick. If not, leave them out altogether and bake your meal with a shallot or two, once done just sprinkle some parsley or chives on your meal and you’re done.

If you’ve got green fingers, and the space to grow them, go for individual fresh herbs, they are the best. Just remember to triple the amounts when transferring the measurements from dry to fresh.

Spices:

I basically have a selection of turmeric, cumin, coriander, paprika, cardamom, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne, if you don’t, get a mild or spicy (depending on your taste) curry mix and garam massala mix and you should be able to make most of the meals that will come by on this blog.

If you’re also planning on doing desserts (yes, I will get around to some at some point) also make sure you have nutmeg, and cinnamon besides your curry and garam massala.

Bell pepper:

All colors are interchangeable or mixable. If you hate bell peppers, add some celery, zucchini, or cucumber instead (a ¼ of the indicated amount, no more) and add some sugar.

As for vegetables, most you can just leave out or replace with one that has similar taste and/or structure. This is more about common sense than anything. If the recipe calls for cauliflower, you can most likely replace it with carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin and in some cases not in mixes, but as a separate veggie for sure. Same goes for the other way around.

Well, that’s it for now. As I come upon different combinations and interchangeable ingredients, I will post them in this blog, so check in every now and then to see.

High nutrition patties

Oats

Oat patties

No, this is not a cookie. This is a very healthy snack or part of your meal since it is filled with nutrients that are vital for any body.

Oats are heavy on the iron, magnesium, and all those important minerals, and since we’ll be adding some veggies, herbs and cheese, it will basically cover most of the food groups. I like to make a nice batch to put in the fridge, so that whenever I’m hungry, but don’t feel like cooking, I can just slap a bit into a skillet and have myself a pattie. You can eat them bare, or add some lettuce, or whatever else topping you feel like. I use the oats that you buy for oatmeal, not the raw ones, those will take forever to be edible. If you're doing gluten free, replace the flour with chickpea flour, or buckwheat flour.

Use a cheese of choice, Gouda, Mozzarella, Cheddar…whatever you prefer as long as it melts.

Serves 4-8

Oats: 1 ½-2 mugs

Chickpea flour: ¼ mug

Flour: ½-1 mug

Egg: 2

Cheese: ½ mug

Milk/cream: ½ mug

Onion: ½ mid size. Chopped

Leek: 3-4 inches. Chopped

Red pepper: ½. Chopped

Garlic: 2-3 cloves. Minced

Cherry tomato/sun dried tomatoes: (optional) 4-5. Chopped.

Paprika: 1 teasp.

Salt: 1-2 teasp. (to taste)

Pepper/cayenne: 2-4 turns. (2 knife points)

Sugar: ½ teasp.

Olive oil: 1 tablesp.

The following herbs are dry, if you go for fresh, which is always better, triple the amount.

Parsley: 2 teasp.

Oregano: 1 ½ teasp.

Basil: 2-3 teasp.

Thyme: 1 small pinch (fresh too)

Rosemary: 1 pinch

Chives: 2 teasp.

There is no wrong way to put these all together. Basically toss all the dry ingredients together, stir them, and then add the dairies (strangely enough I prefer milk for this one, but if you’re going for high nutrient, you might pick cream), egg and whatever you have left until you’ve got a nice paste going. If you think it’s too sticky, add a little extra flour.

Warm a skillet, either with oil in it or butter on medium heat. Get two big tablespoons and a nice big spatula. Scoop up your gooey paste with one spoon, then use the other to slide it off and into your skillet. Spread out until it’s about hamburger size, half an inch thick at most. (Be careful that you don’t make it too thick otherwise your oats won’t be done.) Bake, using the spatula to press it down occasionally, both sides to a nice golden crisp then consume warm, or serve with food of choice. This amount should give you around 8 patties and if you took the upper ranges of the ingredients 10.

Enjoy!