Ongoing experiment to reproduce a favorite grain salad. Because the store packages of wheat berries and rice mix will probably make this recipe 4x, and this recipe only makes 5 small side servings, next time I might try doubling this batch.
But first, let's see if baking works for wheat berries and rice!
Shopping list
Wheat berries, brown-basmati-wild rice mix, 1/2 c slivered almonds, 1/2 c craisins, 2-3 lemons, and rice wine, butter and oil if they're not in the pantry.
Directions
Updated rice thoughts: Less water was better (grains did not get gummy), but cooked rice stuck to bottom of pan. Next time, try this? - 2 cups rice blend, rinse thoroughly (2-3x). Butter bottom/low sides of saucepan, bring 2 c water to boil, add washed rice, lower to simmer. Cover and simmer 15 min (it'll bubble over so lift lid and stir every 5 min or so). When done cooking: Toss and fluff rice.
---- Baking the rice:
This time, we'll try baking the rice. Need a casserole dish with lid.
Instructions are from here and are for brown rice - but I'll try it with the rice/wheatberry mix and see where we get. Note that the advice says DON'T skip boiling the water, no peeking (lets out moisture) and let it rest (absorbs the rest of the water).
Instructions are from here and are for brown rice - but I'll try it with the rice/wheatberry mix and see where we get. Note that the advice says DON'T skip boiling the water, no peeking (lets out moisture) and let it rest (absorbs the rest of the water).
Preheat oven to 375, boil the 2 ¾ cups water (electric kettle!) and combine all ingredients in the casserole dish.
1 ½ cups brown rice - or in this case, 1 cup rice mix and 1/2 cup wheat berries
Cover and bake 60-75 min or until rice is fully cooked. Let it rest 5 min to absorb rest of water, fluff with fork and serve.
1 ½ cups brown rice - or in this case, 1 cup rice mix and 1/2 cup wheat berries
½ teaspoon salt or to taste
¼ cup butter
2 ¾ cups boiling water
Stir in
1/2 cup dried sweet cranberries
1/2 slivered almonds
Dressing:
Grate the salt grinder over it a few times
Zest of 2 lemons, and maybe some of the juice?
2-3 Tbsp rice wine
Second set of notes:
This time I'm trying baking the rice instead of stovetop. But if that doesn't work, here are the stovetop directions to return to!
Cook 1 cup rice mix and 1/2 cup wheat berries: Rinse the rice in cold water and drain, add wheat berries and a little bit of olive oil, add 3c water, bring to boil, knock the heat down to simmer, cover tightly, simmer 15 minutes, pull pan off heat and let rest 10 minutes.
For the first real try at replicating a "5-grain salad" I used to get at a local store and became totally addicted to, I found wheat berries, a brown-basmati-wild rice mix, bulk slivered almonds and bulk cranberry "raisins" at my grocery. The prep directions on the wheat berries and the rice mix were nearly identical, so I cooked them all together with what turned out to be possibly a little too much water (rice came out gummy). Suggestions to correct gummyness include rinsing the rice first, using less water and using more (!) water. Mom suggested baking the rice instead of boiling and we think that also would work for the wheat but would need some further timing experimentation. So here's my best directions for NEXT time, plus some notes.
(Incidentally, the container of rice and the bag of wheat berries looked like they hold enough to make this exact recipe four times. And this recipe yielded 5 servings -- small ones, like side servings.)
First set of notes:
For the first real try at replicating a "5-grain salad" I used to get at a local store and became totally addicted to, I found wheat berries, a brown-basmati-wild rice mix, bulk slivered almonds and bulk cranberry "raisins" at my grocery. The prep directions on the wheat berries and the rice mix were nearly identical, so I cooked them all together with what turned out to be possibly a little too much water (rice came out gummy). Suggestions to correct gummyness include rinsing the rice first, using less water and using more (!) water. Mom suggested baking the rice instead of boiling and we think that also would work for the wheat but would need some further timing experimentation. So here's my best directions for NEXT time, plus some notes.
(Incidentally, the container of rice and the bag of wheat berries looked like they hold enough to make this exact recipe four times. And this recipe yielded 5 servings -- small ones, like side servings.)
For reference, here are the original ingredients listed on the store package: basmati rice, brown rice, wheat berries, wild rice, craisins, almonds, canola/olive oil blend, lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, kosher salt, lemon zest, white pepper.
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