Recently I bought a curious small tub
of teff grain. It just caught my eye at the health food store, its
benefits were praised and I love grains, so along it came. I have
never knowingly eaten teff before. Please do share your experiences,
if you already have cooked with it, but here’s a small summary of
what it is, if it’s unknown to you.
Teff is an ancient gluten-free grain,
the grains being very tiny in size. It’s an important ingredient
especially in Ethiopian and Eritrean cooking and it can grow in
difficult conditions that would be too challenging for other grains.
A whole field of teff can be sown with only a handful of grain. Apart
from these practical features, it is also a very healthy grain. It
has high Calcium and protein contents, as well as high levels of
carbohydrates and fiber and many more useful nutrients. The flavour
is wonderfully nutty.
I will certainly be using teff in the
future in all kinds of baking and cooking, but the first time I tried
it, I wanted to have it in a fairly pure form, just as grains. I
would say that quinoa was yesterday and teff is today!
I used these components for my dish:
Teff
Hummus
Cherry tomatoes roasted
Carrots roasted
Hazelnut crunch and almond flakes
toasted
Mixed salad leaves
Here is how I prepared the different
components:
I cooked the teff grains in water for
about 15 minutes, using the double of volume of water as the grain.
Then I added a pinch of salt and vegetable stock powder, and left it
off heat under the lid for further 5 minutes. Check your teff packet
for cooking instructions in case they vary.
The tomatoes and carrots I roasted in
the oven brushed with olive oil, but I could imagine that they would
be fine raw here as well.
The homemade hummus had already been
prepared a couple of days before and was waiting to be used up.
Then I just toasted the nuts and almond
flakes briefly on a dry pan.
I found this to be quite a nice vegan
dish. Of course many of the components can be replaced by other
vegetables for example, but I really enjoy such plates of food.
I
want to share this salad with the No croutons required
cooking challenge. The January edition is hosted by Lisa from Lisa's Kitchen
and co-hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes.
Have
a good Sunday!
Your
VegHog
Teff is so pricey in the UK, its used a lot in Ethiopian cooking. I've used it in the past for Injera bread, but this recipe is interesting and good to have it in its natural form.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I completely forgot to mention that obviously I used the whole tub for this, which wasn't as cheap as other grains, but it's quite nice, and I'm intrigued to bake with it too.
DeleteOh my! I adore teff and combined here with hummus and roasted vegetables, that sounds wonderful. I don't eat teff as often as I would like. I like it just on its own for breakfast, but I recently made teff cakes that were pretty good. Thanks for sharing with NCR.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lisa! I also like the idea of a teff breakfast and might have to experiment that way as well. It was my pleasure as always with the NCR. :)
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