This is Sveta's recipe. She invented it. She was on a mission to get me to eat more buckwheat because it's really healthy stuff, but the first few times I tried it I didn't like it. This recipe changed my opinion. Now I like it very much and I'm always trying to find new ways of cooking with it.
In Russia and other ex-Soviet countries, buckwheat is very popular and is well known as being a healthy foodstuff. It is fed to soldiers, children in kindergartens and people recuperating in hospitals, because it is believed to be nutritionally superior to other grains. I did a bit of googling on the internet and found that research had been done which suggested that this might indeed be the case. Sveta also told me that buckwheat is considered to have aphrodisiac qualities, but I'm not sure how true that is. I didn't find anything on the internet about that. Maybe she was winding me up.
In Europe buckwheat is much less commonly used in the kitchen. I'm not sure if it's more widely available in shops nowadays, but as a young man living in Scotland, the only place I could get buckwheat was down at the whole-food shop. Not that in those days I rushed down to the whole-food shop to buy buckwheat. Wherever you live, I'd now recommend searching out this unusual and tasty grain and trying this or one of my other buckwheat recipes. It'll do you good.
The amounts I give here will make enough for three or four people.
2 cups of raw buckwheat
1 can of red beans
1 green pepper
1 onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 carrots
1 tomato
2 teaspoons of tomato paste
A third of a teaspoon each of ground coriander, cumin and chilli
A couple of pinches of dried oregano
Oil
Salt
Wash and, if necessary, peel the vegetables. Rinse the buckwheat then put it in a pan and add 3 cups of water and a little salt. Bring to the boil and then cover and simmer on a low heat for about fifteen minutes. This should be enough time to do everything else.
Chop the onions and fry them in oil for a few minutes. Chop the garlic, peppers and carrots making sure you chop the carrots into small pieces as they take a long time to cook otherwise. When the onions are beginning to turn golden, add the garlic and fry for a minute before adding the carrots, peppers and spices. Fry for a further three or four minutes before adding chopped tomatoes along with the tomato paste, two cups of hot water and some salt. Cover the pan and leave simmering until the buckwheat is ready.
When the buckwheat has absorbed all the water, add it to the pan with the stewed vegetables and stir gently. The dish is now ready to serve.
We usually serve Tex-Mex buckwheat with a green salad seasoned with some chopped green coriander. And, of course, don't forget the tequila.