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Recently, I stopped by a local Middle Eastern market in San Diego and was noodling around the
packaged foods when I found a bag of unpelted wheat offered by Sadaf.
Looked interesting so I brought it home. I couldn't find any reference
to it except that it is used in Iranian cooking for a recipe called sabzi, to celebrate the New
Year.
Well, it was inexpensive and I figured how wrong could I
go if I just cooked it up like other grains? So after a week or so of
procrastination, I pulled out the bag and experimented. I put a cup of
the wheat into a pot with two cups of water, brought it to a low boil
and then reduced the heat and let it simmer uncovered for about an
hour. While it was cooking, I sauteed half of a medium-sized diced red
onion and two cloves of minced garlic. Once the water was completely
absorbed and the wheat was cooked (chewy with a little bite), I emptied
it into a bowl, added the sauteed onion and garlic and mixed it with a
little red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper, and
chopped chives and thyme from my garden. I then let it sit for about an
hour for the flavors to take.
It
turned out great. In fact, it was suspiciously familiar. So I opened
the pantry door, pulled out my jar of wheat berries and, well, wouldn't
you know. That's what unpelted wheat is.
You can, of course, find wheat berries at Whole Foods. Conventional markets are starting to carry them and you can easily find them for sale online.
Co-posted on www.sandiegofoodstuff.com.
