Savory Kucia - Wheat Berry Salad
"One of the most important dishes for Kucios, the Lithuanian Christmas Eve supper, is "kucia", a mixture of wheat berries, ground poppy seeds and honey. I've never actually had this (wheat berries being scarce in California markets of 40 and 50 years ago), and since I prefer savory things, I decided to make a salad in the spirit of the traditional kucia, incorporating things that would have been available in a typical Central/Eastern European farmstead. OK, balsamic vinegar and olive oil are a bit of a stretch, but everything else would have been available at my grandparents' farms. If you've never had wheat berries, you'll discover a tasty grain. I have found that this tastes best if permitted to stand overnight, to permit the flavors to meld. Cooking time does not include soaking or standing times."
photo by loof751
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- Ready In:
- 1hr 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 11
- Serves:
-
4-6
ingredients
- 1 cup wheat berries
- 1 medium red onion, finely chopped
- 1 large sweet-tart apple, cored and chopped
- 1⁄2 cup mixed dried berries (or 1/2 cup dried cherries, raisins or cranberries)
- 1⁄2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 teaspoon poppy seed
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar or 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- fresh ground pepper, to taste
directions
- Rinse and drain the wheat berries. Place them in a medium bowl, cover with water and soak overnight.
- Drain the wheat berries, place in a medium saucepan, add 3 cups water and cook until the berries are soft and the water is pretty much absorbed, about 1 hour. If the berries are tender, you can just drain any excess water. (I have been doing this in the rice cooker - it takes two cycles in my machine, but I don't have to worry about the pot boiling dry).
- Cover the chopped onion with hot water for two or three minutes, and drain. (This reduces a bit of the bite. Your onion may be sweet enough to skip this step).
- Place the cooked wheat in a large bowl and toss with the onion, apple, berries, poppy seeds and walnuts.
- Add some freshly grated black pepper.
- Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, honey and salt. Pour over the salad and toss to combine.
- Let stand at least four hours or so, preferably overnight, to permit the flavors to meld.
- Serve at room temperature.
- Note: The vinegar keeps the apple from discoloring, but you may prefer to add the apple just before serving. The heat and moisture of the cooked wheatberries will soften the dried berries, no need to presoak. If using dried cherries, you may want to cut them in half. I tend to use less salt than many, so you may want to adjust that to your own taste.
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Reviews
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Love trying new things so when I saw this recipe, I just had to try it, seeing that wheat berries is not a grain that we normally eat. This dish was lovely and it does taste better as it sits. The apples, raisins, etc. pare well with everything in this salad and I’m looking forward in having some more tomorrow. Thank you, duonyte, for sharing. Made it for FYC. -
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This is a delightful dish! I couldn't find wheat berries so I had to use cracked wheat, prepared it the same way except skipped the overnight soak. I don't care for onions so used chopped celery. The dressing on this was perfect with the nutty wheat, fruit, and walnuts. I used plenty of black pepper and served at room temperature as you suggested. We loved this - thanks for sharing a great recipe! -
Oh wow, this is one of the best tasting grain salads Ive eaten in a long time! Its soooooooo full of flavour and also very pretty to look at! I used spelt berries as I cant have wheat and that worked out really nicely, they have a bit of a honey sweetness to them, so that worked really well with the tasty dressing. YUM!<br/>THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing this superb recipe with us, duonyte!<br/>Made and reviewed for 123 Hits April 2011. -
Very tasty! The only things I changed were: 1) I toasted the wheat berries before boiling them. 2) Since I didn't want to bother with the problem of the apples turning brown and because I wanted to make enough for the whole week and didn't think the apples would stay fresh, I substituted dates for the apples. I sliced each date into about four or five small pieces. 3) I pan roasted the walnuts with just a little bit of butter. Health nuts might not like using butter, but boy are they good that way! 4) At the same time I was pan roasting the walnuts, I thought adding some roasted pecans to the recipe would be real nice, so I added them to the pan and roasted up some pecans along with the walnuts. 5) Instead of 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, I used two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and two tablespoons of walnut oil. 6) I added a little bit of honey directly to the (cooked) wheat berries and mixed it in because I didn't think the flavor of the honey that was mixed in with the olive oil (& walnut oil) and balsamic vinegar came through enough. If anyone tries my modified version, I hope you enjoy it! I sure did :)
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Absolutely wonderful! I must add wheat berries to our menu more often than once or twice a year. I used tart dried cherries but I think barberries would work, too. Good and healthy and you can't complain about that. Served with simple pan grilled chicken and a steamed carrots. Reviewed for Best of 2011.
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Tweaks
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Tweaked as described above. Would love to hear how you liked it!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
duonyte
United States
My screen name is a diminutive in Lithuanian for bread, so you won't be suprised to learn that I love to bake bread. In recent years I have been baking a lot of sourdough breads and have several starters sitting in my refrigerator. But I like to cook a lot of other things, as well, especially from various cultures. The cat wishes I would concentrate on meat and fish... I joined a few years ago but started posting recipes and participating in forums just recently - I wish I had done so earlier. Recipezaar is a great community! Right now I am a co-host for the Breads and Baking and the Eastern Europe forums - I hope to see you there!
