Buckwheat salad
A buckwheat salad is won or lost at the cooking stage. Toasted groats and precisely measured water give fluffy, separate grains; too much water turns them into a sticky mass no dressing can rescue.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Cooking the buckwheat 20 min
- Cooling 10 min
- Chopping vegetables 10 min
- Dressing 10 min
Step by step
0 / 5 doneToast the groats
Tip the dry groats into a hot pot with a tablespoon of oil and toast for 3 minutes, stirring, until nutty and fragrant. Toasted grains stick together less as they cook and take on a nutty aroma.
Ingredients: 200 g buckwheat groats · 380 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 1 tbsp oil
Toasting before the water goes in — the secret to fluffy grains.Cook in measured water
Pour in 380 ml of water — measured, not guessed — add salt, bring to the boil, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 12 minutes. Then take off the heat and leave covered for another 5 minutes without stirring — 17 minutes in all.
Ingredients: 200 g buckwheat groats · 380 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 1 tbsp oil
TipThe ratio is 1 : 1.9 by weight, i.e. about 190 ml of water for every 100 g of buckwheat. More water and the grains go mushy, less and they stay hard.
Spread out and cool
Tip the buckwheat onto a tray and spread it thin. Separate the grains with a fork and leave for 10 minutes — the steam escapes and the grains stop clumping. Warm buckwheat would soften the feta and wilt the parsley.
Ingredients: 200 g buckwheat groats · 380 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 1 tbsp oil
On a tray it cools far faster than in the pot.Chop the vegetables
Halve the cherry tomatoes, cut the cucumber into 1 cm cubes and the onion into thin slivers. Chop the parsley. If the onion is sharp, soak it for 5 minutes in cold water with a squeeze of lemon.
Ingredients: 250 g cherry tomatoes · 1 pcs cucumber · ½ pcs red onion · 120 g feta · ½ bunch parsley · 40 g sunflower seeds
Small dice — then every spoonful has a bit of everything.Make the dressing and combine
Mix the olive oil with the juice and zest of the whole lemon, honey, salt and pepper. Toss the cooled buckwheat with the vegetables and dressing, crumble over the feta and scatter the seeds and parsley. Rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Ingredients: 4 tbsp olive oil · 1 pcs lemon · 1 tsp honey · ½ tsp salt · ¼ tsp pepper
TipThe salad tastes best at room temperature — straight from the fridge the olive oil thickens and the cold dulls the flavour.
Before you start
For two days
Keep the dressing separate and toss before serving. Once mixed, the cucumber makes the salad watery within a day.
Roasted versus raw groats
Roasted buckwheat has a stronger, toasty flavour that dominates the salad. Raw groats are gentler and work better with lemon.
With roasted pumpkin
In autumn add 300 g of pumpkin cubes roasted at 200°C for 25 minutes — the sweetness counters the lemon beautifully.
