En famille Bio

THE GREATNESS OF GRAINS


Whilst white flour and rice can be useful, the goodness has mostly been stripped out - carbs without nutritional value - whereas whole grains are full of important goodies and help stabilise blood sugars. Not really sure how to use them? Here are a few to get you started: (CT = cooking time)

BROWN RICE - popular with those who don't mind the extra cooking time, although our Basmati cooks in about twenty minutes. Brown rice contains lots of fibre, vitamin E, manganese, magnesium, selenium and the amino acid tryptophan. Use instead of white rice in stews, curries, casseroles etc. (CT 40-50 mins)

SPELT - an ancient wheat grain high in protein and more nutritional than ordinary whole wheat. It contains manganese, magnesium and copper and the energy-boosting B vitamins, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin. Use in bread or pasta.

OATS - nothing as warming as porridge. High in protein as well as fibre, oats can help lower cholesterol and even stabilise blood sugars. They come in lots of forms but it's better to choose the least refined and get all the goodness. You can use oat flour instead of wheat flour for cakemaking by the way. Oats contain magnesium, manganese, selenium and tryptophan.

WILD RICE - great if you can get it. It's high in protein and has a lovely nutty taste and is much lower in calories than white rice and high in fibre too. Ideally go for the black, unblended (with white rice) type. Can be used in all the same dishes as white rice. (CT 50-60 mins)

QUINOA - delicious and full of goodies - a complete protein, it's also high in B-vitamins and fibre as well as iron and magnesium. It reduces the risk of heart problems, helps protect against free radicals and is said to ease the pain of migraine sufferers. (CT 15-20 mins)

BULGUR RICE - derived from bulgur wheat and a top-class health food. It contains lignans and ferulic acid which help ward off nitrosamines which are linked to cancer. It's particularly high in fibre and loaded with minerals such as iron, zinc, manganese, selenium, phosphorus and magnesium. (CT - just pour boiling water over it and watch it swell! Takes about 20 mins. You can cook it in boiling water too)

PEARL BARLEY - chokka with fibre. The unrefined variety contains lots of potassium along with every other mineral you can think of (well almost). Use in soups, stews, pilaf etc. (CT 15-20 mins)

MILLET - is a highly nutritious grain. It contains more iron than other grains and is a good source of zinc, calcium, manganese and B vitamins. It is gluten free. Great as an accompaniment to stews and curries. (Soak overnight for quicker CT - 5-10 mins, or instant CT approx 20 mins)

There are quite a few other interesting grains and versions of the above, but it would take several pages to cover them. Suffice to say whole grains should form an important part of our diet as they contain so much goodness - carbs, protein, vitamins and minerals - and interestingly prepared, they taste great.
I always add salt or bouillon powder to the cooking water. Grains cooked with neither can come out really bland and flat.