Cooking with cereals: tips and recipes for healthy dishes | NDR.de – guide

In the form of bread and pasta or as a muesli for breakfast, wheat is an indispensable part of our menu. As part of hearty, hot dishes, spelled, oats and the like are rarely on the table. The different types of grains offer a great change from potatoes or pasta and can be used in various ways in cooking.

Prepare the wheat: Leave it to soak overnight

Before preparation, you usually have to let the beans soak. First rinse thoroughly in a colander. Then add two to four times the amount of water and soak, ideally for several hours or overnight. Those who love hard-bitten wheat use little water, with a lot of liquid the grain becomes softer.

Oats for the night: ideal as a breakfast or snack

Convenient: With overnight oats, the healthy breakfast comes out of the fridge almost ready in the morning.

Night oats are currently particularly popular as a healthy breakfast. To do this, soak the cereal flakes overnight in milk, water, or a milk replacer such as oats or almond drink. Rolled oats, millet or rice are suitable for this. The next day, add chopped fruit and nuts and a delicious breakfast is ready. Those who prefer it substantial can combine puffy flakes, for example, with avocado and boiled egg.

Patties and Burgers: These types of grains are suitable

Green spelled and beef burgers can also be combined, ideally with lots of vegetables.

Cereals are also ideal for making veggie burgers or patties. To do this, mix the puffy grains – oat flakes and millet even without pre-soaking – with the chopped egg and onions as well as other vegetables, season well and sauté in a pan. Grünkern is particularly suitable for preparing vegetarian meatballs and burgers. This is the unripe spelled grain. The beans are artificially dried in ovens fueled with beech or oak wood, which gives them the characteristic aroma of smoke.

Millet, on the other hand, can be used to prepare delicious tampons. To do this, cook the millet in salted water for about 30 minutes and mix it with the egg and onions or other vegetables, if you like. Form pancakes from the millet mass and fry them in a pan.

Risotto and cereal flans

Barley risotto is also a delicious side dish, for example with fish.

Risotto can also be prepared with cereals instead of rice. Pearl barley – these are peeled and ground barley grains, sometimes even wheat, are especially suitable. Green or wheat grains can also be prepared very well in this way. Depending on the recipe, briefly soften the already inflated beans with a drizzle of oil, deglaze with stock and white wine and boil. Add vegetables to taste and serve with grated cheese.

For a casserole with cereals, pre-cook the puffy grains and fill a saucepan with the pre-cooked vegetables to taste. Pour over the cream or milk, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake in the oven.

Cereals as a side dish, salad or soup

As an accompaniment to lamb or chicken, bulgur and couscous have a firm place in Eastern and North African cuisine. They are also ideal for light salads such as tabbouleh. Both are durum wheat products. They don’t have to be boiled, they swell only in hot water. Barley is a good filling soup.

Amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat – gluten-free alternatives

Even so-called pseudographers like them Quinoa and amaranth are great for hearty dishes. They are suitable, for example, as an accompaniment to meat or fish, but also as a base for salads and bowls or to stuff peppers or courgettes. To do this, first cook the grains in salted water for about 25-30 minutes. Advantage of pseudo-wheat: they do not contain gluten and are therefore suitable for a gluten-free one Diet in celiac disease.

Further information

Here you will find delicious dishes based on bulgur, couscous, spelled, green spelled, pearl barley, oats, millet and quinoa. More

Bread, pasta, muesli: cereal-based products determine our menu. An overview of the most important varieties. More