Simple, perfect, the building blocks of life: our experiments with whole grain continue. This week, it’s whole wheat. When I came across the term wheatberries, I thought maybe they were like the Iranian zereshk or some manner of food fabrication turning wheat into giant couscous. But the answer is much simpler. Wheatberries are the hulled

kernel of the entire wheat seed. They are full of fibre and protein and when cooked have an addictive nuttiness. You can tell they’re great in “diet” food because the bite they bring to any meal is toothsomely satisfying.
We’re more familiar with bulgur or cracked wheat or dalia. A couple of brands sell a sprouted dalia — wheatberries are soaked, sprouted, dried and then cracked — which is infinitely easier on the digestive system and far quicker to cook. In fact, give bulgur a good soaking in stock or salted water and it turns into the base for bulgur-salad, a substitute for couscous, a healthy porridge, a bolster-upper of soup, a side for stew, excellent baby food… the list goes on.
Though both are great in bread, bulgur and wheat-berries are not interchangeable. And I think wheatberries are much, much more fun. Bulgur, cooked, has a tendency to get glutinous (if wheat didn’t get glutinous, what would?) and it has to be cooked carefully and flavoured very cleverly. Wheatberries on the other hand can be cooked for ages, and even if you’ve overdone them, they will just pop a bit, still retaining a lovely firmness reminiscent of European buckwheat. They’re great for summer salads, wintry stews, in versions of pilafs or just as comfort food, warm with salt, butter, parmesan and lemon: all and all, a great addition to your repertoire.
If you have gluten allergies then I’m afraid this week is no fun for you, but you can refer to last week’s column and pretty much use cooked millet in all the recipes below.

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Turkish Soup with Yoghurt and Herb Oil
My sister does a Greek version of this soup for Lovelunch. This recipe, of Turkish origin, is simpler to make and unimaginably wholesome and delicious. Bulgur brings a depth to the dal, the red chilli flakes drum up a hot heat that is soothed by the yoghurt and then piqued by the herb oil. Serve in low, wide soup bowls with a little toasted pita if you want, though it’s perfect on its own.

Ingredients:
1 cup masoor dal
1 large onion
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves*
4 large cloves garlic
6 tomatoes
¾ cup bulgur
2 tsp red chili flakes
½ cup yoghurt
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp butter
3 tbs chopped mint
2 tbs chopped oregano
1 good quality stock cube
1 litre hot water
Salt and pepper to taste
* Dump the thyme on-the-stalk into the pan if you can’t be bothered to pick the leaves. Most of the leaves will fall off during the cooking and you can pick the empty stalks out of the soup before serving.

Method:
Rinse and drain the dal and bulgur. Chop the tomatoes, onion and garlic finely. In a heavy bottomed pan, using a little olive oil, sauté first the onion and thyme and then add the garlic. As it begins to get translucent, add the chopped tomato and chilli flakes with 1 tsp of salt. Keep cooking until the tomato really cooks down, losing most of its liquid. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn. When it’s puree-thick, add the bulgur, dal, hot water and stock cube. Stir well, bring to a boil and then leave to simmer. You want the bulgur and dal cooked to a soft, thick consistency.

Herb Oil: While the soup bubbles, heat olive oil in a clean pan, add butter. When butter stops bubbling, turn off the heat and throw in the mint and oregano. When it’s slightly cool, blend it all to get a green-flecked oil.

Serving the soup: When the soup is cooked to a nice thick consistency, blend it. Beat yoghurt. Serve the soup with a big dollop of yoghurt and the herb oil swirled over. Serve immediately (though it tasted lovely in the fridge the next day too.)

WheatBerries with grilled lamb
Nothing much to this salad and yet it’s a party in your mouth. The crisp, astringent rocket, the sweet roasted yellow pepper, the luxurious, lazy, sexy pesto, the nutty wheatberries — this is a perfect side to a portion of lamb grilled quickly after a long dunk in lemon juice, pepper, olive oil and lots of spicy garlic. If only we could barbeque in the monsoon.

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh rocket leaves
1 cup cooked wheatberries
1 large yellow pepper
1 tsp lime juice
Salt
For the pesto:
1 cup fresh basil leaves
½ cup e.v. olive oil
½ cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic
Salt

Method:
Make the pesto. Grind the walnuts to a powder, then add the basil leaves and olive oil and pulse till smooth. Crush the garlic and add that as well. Puree, add salt to taste, puree once more. Roast the yellow pepper on an open flame. Then place in a glass bowl, cover and leave to “sweat”. Peel the charred skin off, discard stalk and seeds and cut roasted flesh into 2 cm squares. Toss wheatberries with a few spoons of pesto sauce. Then add washed and dried, rocket leaves and serve immediately with a spritz of lemon if required.

WheatBerries with Eggplant and Cheese
This recipe calls for Haloumi, that salty, fresh cheese. But I couldn’t get any so I used paneer and salted it in the pan while frying it. It’s not quite the same but it worked okay. A very simple dish — you may want to serve this with falafels and pita. This tastes as good hot or cold, so great to take to lunch with you.

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked wheatberries
1 small aubergine
200 gm paneer
1 tsp lemon juice
3 large cloves garlic
½ cup mint leaves
2 tsp thyme
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Olive oil

Method:
Cut the paneer into 1 cm cubes. Slice 1 cm “cheeks” off the aubergine and cube it as well so you get at least one side with the purple skin. On a hot, non-stick pan, very lightly greased, chop one clove of garlic, one spoon of thyme and quickly fry the aubergine cubes until they are browned. Reserve. In the same pan, adding a touch more thyme and drop of oil, brown the cubes of paneer.
Chop the other two cloves of garlic and mix them with the lime juice, mint, rest of the thyme and extra virgin olive oil. Combine wheatberries, paneer, aubergine and dressing and serve garnished with more mint.

Wheatberries with fruit and nuts
This is a recipe from the holy month of Ramzan. The original recipe uses raisins. I despise raisins so used fresh grapes instead which brought a lovely light, sweetness to the recipe. I think this is best eaten cold.

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked wheatberries
2 cups whole milk
4 tsp sugar
Pinch salt
2 tbs almonds
2 tbs pistas
2 tbs pine nuts
½ cup green seedless grapes
1 tbs rose water
½ tsp cinnamon powder (optional)

Method:
Bring the milk to a simmer and add sugar. Stir it gently until the sugar is dissolved. Tip the wheatberries into the milk and cook gently for another 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the salt and cinnamon powder. Sliver the almonds, shell the pistas and toast the nuts on a warm pan until they’re just browned. Cut the grapes into half if you want. Spoon the wheatberries into bowls, top with milk and serve garnished with nuts and fruit.