Suddenly, I yearned. I wanted my curry rice, but I also wanted that other flavor, and so back to the pantry I went for the jar (I keep all my dry goods in tall, gasketed jars) of bulgur wheat. I threw in about a half a cup to the cup or so of rice and about an equal amount of chicken broth. Once it came to a boil, I reduced the heat and cooked them for about ten minutes (basmati cooks quicker than many rices), then removed the pot from the fire and removed the lid to let the grains finish cooking by evaporation.
This cooking method always results in a chewier rice, but the wheat made the mix chewier yet. Due to the wheat's blonde color and the turmeric stain, most people would have eaten this dish without realizing the addition was even there, but in addition to the enhanced chewiness the rice picked up an earthiness from the wheat that really worked with the celery and gave me that echo of mom's home cooking I longed for.
Neat dish. And it moves me to confess that I rarely--no, make that NEVER--mix grains. I tend to love them all and yet prize each one for something very individual in its character that I tend to exploit when choosing it as an accompaniament to whatever meat (or vegetable, which I sometimes substitute as the VIP on the plate) I'm preparing.
The result was wonderful, a sum greater than it's parts, something I think an objective 3rd party without a mommy memory attached to the project would agree with. But then that's a subjective statement.
Anyway, I am suddenly inspired to explore this in more depth, so I'm making grains (which Cynthia has also suggested as an IOTM) our next featured ingredient. Included are all grains: quinoa, spelt, wheat, all rices, and whatever else I'm not thinking to list.
First question: which grains should a well-stocked pantry include? Have to admit, the pantry here at Chez J is fairly lacking in the grain department. I stock a larger than average, I think, number of rices. At the moment: white basmati, brown basmati, carnaroli and vialone nano (though I usually only have one or the other), valenciano, jasmine, and wild. I also have a red hulled rice I picked up in Denmark called Franske Camarque which I haven't figured out what to do with yet. But outside of rice my selection's fairly pedestrian: bulghur wheat, and the usual suspects of barley and polenta. Oh, and Quaker Oats if those count. Not much else.
No wonder I don't mix many grains, I don't have that many to mix.
And the next question, what do you normally do with whole grains? Do you consider yourself already adventurous, or is this an area you should delve into more?
