Among the rich variety of porridges popular in Russia, buckwheat stands out. Considered worldwide “a Russian porridge” buckwheat has been widely used in this country since the 12th century. It can be found in numerous traditional recipes of porridges, pancakes, pies, and even soups.
Buckwheat is one of the most popular cereals in Russia. It is surprising that with all the usefulness and balance of the composition, this cereal has not become widespread in lots of other countries.
The world market leader for buckwheat production is Russia. China ranks second and Ukraine is third. These three states account for approximately 75 percent of the whole world production of this cereal.
Is Buckwheat Really Russian?
Russia and buckwheat have become almost synonymous words. But is this country really the homeland of the so-called «Russian porridge»?
The first records of buckwheat are found in the legendary chronicle "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" and date back to 1185 It should be noted that buckwheat appeared on the territory of modern Russia much earlier. Archaeologists find burials with fossilized remains of these grains in the Sarmatian settlement sites, which are about two thousand years old. It is known that the homeland of buckwheat is the Himalayas. It is from there buckwheat made its long way to Russia, having collected legends and stories along the way.
One of the few legends regarding its origin tells that an evil Tatar khan once captured and married a tsar's daughter. Their offsprings got to be born little, edgy and brown. Eventually they spread around as grains of buckwheat.
Nowadays proved to be very wholesome and rich in protein and iron, buckwheat remains a staple Russian product used in various recipes and especially popular among vegetarians.
Try this delicious traditional dish of Cabbage Rolls with Buckwheat
Recipe
1 cabbage head
300 g (1,5 glass) buckwheat
3 glasses of water for boiling buckwheat
300 g carrots
2 large onion bulbs
300 g champignons
3 tbsps oil
2 tbsps tomato paste
3 bay leaves
Fry 300 g of grated carrots, 2 finely chopped onions and 300 g of boiled chopped champignons in a frying pan in sunflower oil, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.
Parcook buckwheat and add to the pan with vegetables and mushrooms. Salt and mix the filling and fry for 5 minutes.
Parboil the cabbage, put it on a sieve and take the leaves apart. Put stuffing in the middle of each leaf ànd roll them. Place the rolls in an enamel saucepan, pour a glass of water, add 2 tbsps tomato paste and 3 bay leaves and simmer for 20 minutes.
Arrange the prepared cabbage rolls on plates, garnish with parsley and thin slices of mushrooms.
Buckwheat Thick Pancakes (Oladyi)
Dissolve 40 g of yeast in a saucepan with warm water (1 liter), and mix in 500 g of wheat flour. Mix thoroughly and put the dough in a warm place for 2 hours.
Add 3 eggs, 100 g sugar and 500 g buckwheat flour. To obtain buckwheat flour you can grind the groats in a coffee grinder. Or else, you can even mix buckwheat porridge into the dough.Knead the finished dough well.
Fry pancakes in a cast iron pan greased with oil.
Serve with a salad of fresh grated carrots, seasoned with oil and decorated with raisins and nuts.