While grocery stores and vegetable vendors every day put up new exotic offerings in the ingredient department, there’s still a deficit of seed, grain and other fun textured ‘base’ ingredients for a meal. Only one brand of proper soba, no wild rice, no quinoa, unpolished barley is hard to access… you get the idea. My brother’s

Moldovan wife brought home cartons of Russian buckwheat last Christmas. We ate bowls of it, steaming, seasoned with nothing more spectacular than a little unsalted butter and declared it wholly soul-food.
There’s only one small sachet left, far too little for a gargantuan family like ours. When siblings began to refer to it, Gollum-like, as ‘the precioussss’, we decided to research local sources. Not easy — despite being a Gujarati staple (kuttu is buckwheat flour and kutti-no-daro is the grain) it’s hard to find whole. Also, the earthy bite of the larger ‘foreign’ grain is replaced by a slight Indian ‘dustiness’ that must be compensated for in the cooking (“Pseudo-cereal,” someone snorted while eating it.) But still, there’s something very satisfying about buckwheat. Tarla Dalal has a buckwheat dhokla recipe online but it’s great just as a salty porridge, an addition to soup instead of oats or, if you have a little time and some inclination, as a gluten-free, highly nutritious pancake flour, pudding mix or biscuit base.

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Galette Complete
Despite having been in ‘those parts’ a couple of times, I’ve never eaten a true galette in Gallic climes. We’ve always been distracted by those flirty crepes so I’m not sure if the galette this recipe yields is ‘correct’ but it was truly, truly delicious! Great texture and a complex flavour. We (the LoveLunch siblings and I) home-ground the broken buckwheat ourselves in a regular, spice grinder and got great results… in case you can’t get the flour.

ingredients
For the galette:
4 cups buckwheat flour
11/2 cups water (to begin with)
1 egg
salt

For the ‘complete’:
*A good quality egg
Cheese: sliced thinly
**Ham
Parsley

*Ideally, buy ‘gaon-tee’ eggs. If you can’t access those, we’ve started buying a certain type of ‘branded’ eggs whose yolks are yellower and whites are firmer.
**Like eggs, be pernickety about your processed meats. The smoky, Dutch ham I used came from this wonderful deli called Sante, in Bandra, Mumbai run by the intuitive Milanda who has changed the way we eat for the infinitely better!

Method
Mix flour, egg, water and salt and leave to stand for 1/2 hour. Stir batter to check for consistency: it should coat the back of a spoon but be runny enough swirl easily around the pan. Take the biggest non-stick pan you own, lightly grease it and heat it to quite hot. Pour in a measure of the batter swirl round the pan. When the edges leave the sides, give the pan a bit of a shake.
If the galette comes loose, you can flip it over now. Otherwise, wait another 30 seconds. (As the pan gets hotter, with subsequent pancakes, the process will be quicker.)
Now, Galette Complete — The Official Way: Put the galette back on the pan and fry the egg on it! Fine if you got your eggs from the organic farmer down the road. But, if, like me, you went to a supermarket and bought eggs that took a truck journey or two, then cheat. Pile your galette with the ham, the cheese and then plop your separately fried egg on top.
Garnish with lots of parsley, fold into a ‘square’ with the yolk peeping out and serve!

Buttermilk Biscuits with Buckwheat
ingredients
1 cup buckwheat flour
3 cups wholewheat flour
200 gms butter
3 tsp baking powder
400 gms yoghurt
2 tsp salt

method
Set your oven to 450 F. Mix the dough ingredients (except the yoghurt) until well melded and looks crumbly. Taste a crumb for salt. Now beat the yoghurt and then fold it into the dough. Lightly mix and leave for about 10 minutes.
Take mounds of dough, roll to about 1 cm thickness and then cut into round shapes. Grease a baking tray and arrange the biscuits with some space between. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown. Best eaten at once with cheese, fruit, marmalade, smoked salmon or anything brunchy.

Sweet Buckwheat Treats
Buckwheat Kheer

The natural nuttiness of buckwheat makes this kheer taste far more almond-rich than it is.

ingredients
1 cup medium ground buckwheat
2 cups water
4 cups low-fat milk
4 cardamom pods
2 tbsp raisins
½ tsp saffron threads
Chopped pistas and almonds
A pinch of salt and sugar to taste

Method
Gently simmer buckwheat and water for a bit. Add the milk and the other ingredients and continue on a low flame until the flavours have melded. You can serve this hot or cold.

Dairy-free buckwheat chocolate pudding
This is a weirdly tasting chocolate pudding but there’s something to it. It’s more ‘adult’ but if you add milk instead of water and skip the liqueur, you’ll get a more child-friendly pudding. It’s healthy and so I’m considering this a work in progress and will keep you posted on new improvements.

ingredients
1 cup finely ground buckwheat
3 cups water
½ tsp salt
4-5 tablespoons of good quality cocoa powder
2 tsp sugar (or to taste)
1 tbsp orange or lemon liqueur (we used Limoncello)

Method
In a heavy bottomed pan, simmer the buckwheat in water. Add the salt, the sugar and the cocoa and keep stirring adding sugar or more chocolate powder. The buckwheat, as it cooks will begin to thicken. When it’s the consistency of porridge, take off the heat, stir in the liqueur and leave to chill. Serve with whipped soya-cream!