Almost Turkish Recipes

Spinach with Soft Wheat Berries (Buğdaylı Ispanak)

























I usually cook spinach with white rice. I had bought a big bag of soft wheat berries for another recipe. They are tastier than bulgur, and softer and easier to chew than brown rice. I decided to use them with spinach for a great summer recipe.

























1 full cup of pearl onions, or 1 big onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
3 tomatoes, grated or 1 can diced tomato
1 cup cooked soft wheat berries
1 lb / almost 1/2 kilo spinach, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
1 cup vegetable stock or water (hot)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
salt
black pepper (optional)
red pepper flakes (optional)

























-1/3 cup of soft wheat berries will make approximately 1 cup when they're cooked. Boil 1/3 cup soft wheat berries in 3-4 cups of water until berries are soft.
-Heat the oil in a broad pot. Stir onion and garlic until slightly brown.
-Pour in tomatoes and cook for 5-8 minutes.
-Stir in spinach, lemon juice, sugar, salt, pepper(s), and berries.
-Pour vegetable stock.
-Cover and cook on medium for 30-35 minutes.
-You serve it cold or hot. It goes well with fresh bread and yogurt.

10 comments:

  1. Mmmh, that looks very good! How long does it take for the wheat to cook?

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  2. beautiful looking dish.
    ur got very wonderful blog over here. all those food so tempting.

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  3. Honeybee: it takes half an hour or a little more.

    ISha: thanks!

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  4. Anonymous1:51 PM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  5. I haven't seen any wheat berries before. Should look for them if they're available here in NZ. Nice to know your blog.

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  6. Anonymous11:41 PM

    Arfi Binsted,

    I live in Australia and here wheat berries are called Pearl Barley. They may be called the same in NZ.

    hope this helps.

    Sidika

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  7. This looks really good and nice photos!

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  8. Arfi,
    Nice to see you here, too.
    I'm sure you can find wheat berries in NZ; you may find them in stores that carry bulk or packed organic dry foods. They might be called "soft wheat berries"

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  9. Sidika,
    As far as I know pearl barley and soft wheat berries are two different things.

    ReplyDelete