Buckwheat porridge

Buckwheat porridge is one of those things that I love having for breakfast. It’s so simple to make, and is so delicious with a bit of butter or oil, that I could gladly eat it for lunch or dinner.

I prefer the pre-toasted type, the one that looks darker and usually can be found in Polish grocery stores here in Wales. It’s the type that my family back in Lithuania use, and that’s the one I grew up eating. It’s more crunchy and more flavoursome, than the raw buckwheat. You can still use the raw buckwheat groats, just toast them in a pan for a few minutes until they start to brown.

You will need:

• 1 part buckwheat (pretoasted or raw)

• 2 parts water

• pinch of salt

• knob of butter or other fat such as olive oil

Add water and buckwheat in the pot and bring it to boil. Once boiling, keep it on high heat for 10 minutes with lid closed.

Turn it off, cover the lid with tea towel and leave it to ‘cook’ for another 10 minutes. Mix in salt and butter, and shake the pot so that butter mixes in well.

It’s important that you don’t overcook it and that in the end each buckwheat seed (apparently it is a seed) is its own little grain-like particle, not too mushy, not too hard. If you follow the recipe you should end up with a bowl of nice and fluffly buckwheat.

You won’t believe how delicious this is before you try. You can eat buckwheat on its own, just make sure you add some kind of fat. You can also use it to make a veggie burger, wheat free bread, or as a sidedish. The possibilities are countless. Enjoy.