Green buckwheat - benefits, harm + recipes for weight loss

For Slavic peoples, buckwheat porridge is the most familiar, simple food, which, nevertheless, has an excellent taste and excellent nutritional properties. Buckwheat was sown and grown throughout a vast territory in Eastern Europe; in other regions its use was less widespread, however, this grain is well known to most peoples of countries with temperate climates. In northern Asian countries, buckwheat was often used for medicinal purposes.

Nowadays, interest in this tasty and healthy food has only increased. While most foods are becoming increasingly synthetic and hazardous to health, buckwheat retains its properties as a natural and healthy food. “Live” green buckwheat is of particular interest to supporters of a healthy diet. But what is the difference between green buckwheat and regular brown buckwheat? We are accustomed to eating buckwheat grains that have been fried or processed with hot steam, peeled from the coarse outer husk. They have a special aroma and cook quickly, making the porridge crumbly and airy. But the main purpose of roasting is to protect the grain from pests that are not averse to eating delicious grains.

General Tips

Do you need to wash cereals before cooking? Many people don’t wash it, but it’s still better to sort it out before cooking, then rinse it (empty and defective grains float up), and then use it.

Buckwheat is first fried, which certainly gives it a richer aroma and taste, and after cooling it should also be doused with a little water. Next, the cereal can be prepared using any of the proposed methods.

Summary of reviews

Reviews about this product are mostly positive. Losing weight does not harm the body. Does not worsen the condition of nails and hair due to the beneficial substances contained in buckwheat. People do not feel depression caused by a constant feeling of hunger, because porridge, although low in calories, is very filling.

Anyone can lose weight on such a diet if you follow the instructions and eat only approved foods. Particular attention should be paid to exiting the diet. It should be gradual. Then the weight won't come back.

Buckwheat with vegetables, stewed in a frying pan

This is the simplest, most budget-friendly and at the same time healthy cereal dish.

There are no unusual or seasonal ingredients in it - only what is always available in any kitchen:

• buckwheat (in St. Petersburg it is lovingly called nothing less than buckwheat, and in the Explanatory Dictionary - kernel) - two glasses;
• a pair of medium onions;
• one large carrot or two smaller ones;
• vegetable oil – half a glass;
• sugar and a little salt.

For any recipe, we recommend frying the buckwheat a little before cooking. This way it will become even more aromatic, crumbly and at the same time it will not be “sloppy”, even if you overcook it.

This dish is very easy to prepare.

1. Wash the cereal, cut the onion into cubes, grate the carrots coarsely. For the sake of aesthetics, you can use a Korean grater.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan and add onion to fry.
3. After 8 - 10 minutes, add carrots to it and continue frying.
4. Add a teaspoon of sugar - it will add piquancy. Add some salt.
5. The pan in which vegetables are fried does not need to be covered with a lid. When the carrots “stick” a little, add the fried and washed buckwheat. Mix everything.
6. Keep the cereal and vegetables on the fire for about five minutes so that the oil is absorbed into it.
7. Now add 2 cups of boiling water from the kettle and, covering with a lid, simmer the dish over low heat until all the liquid has evaporated. Even if the buckwheat is a little hard, it’s not scary. Just leave it under the lid for another ten minutes to “get it done.”

This porridge can be served as a side dish for meat or as an independent main course. This is a great and simple option for a post.

And for those who are passionate about healthy eating, we can recommend adding buckwheat, previously soaked in water, to fried vegetables. In this case, we do not cook the cereal, but fill it with clean cold water overnight or for several hours. Then simply add the swollen and ready-to-use kernel and simmer just a little in a frying pan with vegetables, just to warm it up a little. That's it, the healthy dish is ready, and all the vitamins are in place!

How to choose, buy and store green buckwheat

It is best to buy raw cereals in trusted places, especially if you practice a raw food diet and buy buckwheat for sprouting. When choosing it, you should follow these simple rules:

The grain must be fresh, ideally from a new harvest, since storage negatively affects the amount of vitamins and other nutrients.

The cereal should have a pleasant smell and a slightly greenish tint. If it smells musty, has a grayish tone, a lot of mealy inclusions and husks - this buckwheat is not worth your attention, it is old, perhaps moldy or was stored under improper conditions and is not suitable for food, especially for germination and medicinal purposes.

To obtain sprouts, it is important to choose the freshest and most whole kernel. It should contain a minimum amount of broken and crushed grain. If you buy cereal for cooking, you can also buy green buckwheat flakes; they usually cost much less than buckwheat.

Buckwheat should not contain insects or their larvae - such porridge is unsuitable for food.

The cereal should not stick together into lumps; when dry, it should be crumbly, and each grain should be whole and smooth.

Store purchased grain in a linen bag if it is going to be sprouted (this way it “breathes” and retains the ability to germinate) or in a tightly closed glass or ceramic container (for cooking). Like other grain products, buckwheat is stored in a cool place, protected from sunlight and freezing.

Important! Choose cereals of a uniform color. The presence of grains of different colors means that some of your porridge will be cooked earlier, and some later, which can significantly worsen the taste and consistency of the finished product.

Cooking in a slow cooker

Buckwheat with vegetables in a slow cooker is a fairly quick dish to prepare. You can take different vegetables, including zucchini, squash and eggplant.

However, if you don’t have a variety of vegetables at hand, you can limit yourself to a simpler set:

• 1 onion;
• 1 carrot;
• 1 tomato;
• 1 bell pepper;
• a couple of cloves of garlic;
• salt and pepper to taste;
• vegetable oil – 3 tbsp. spoons;
• buckwheat – 100 g;
• water - one and a half glasses.

Next we do this:

1. We clean all the vegetables and cut them into cubes. Some recommend grating the carrots and cutting the onions into half rings. The advice is this: it’s still better to make all vegetables the same type - this decorates the dish.
2. Heat the oil in a preheated bowl, put onions and carrots in it, set the “Fry” mode for 10 minutes (without a lid).
3. Add the peppers and after five minutes add the tomatoes.
4. At the end of frying, add chopped garlic, salt and ground pepper. Mix everything, add the previously prepared buckwheat and set the “Porridge” mode for 20 minutes.

Sprouted buckwheat for weight loss

Many nutritionists recommend sprouting buckwheat before eating.

This is done quite easily, you just need to stock up on green buckwheat. The raw cereal is washed and filled with water a couple of centimeters above the surface of the cereal.

The water is drained after two hours, the cereal is left warm for up to a day and a half. Then it is washed well again, steamed in a thermos and consumed like regular buckwheat porridge.

You can also diversify your diet using sprouted green buckwheat with fruits.

For one day of such a diet, take a glass of sprouted buckwheat, 3 apples, 2 pears, about 500 grams of berries.

A smoothie puree is made from the fruit; the sprouted cereal is eaten three times a day, sprinkled with a little lemon juice.

In between taking buckwheat, drink a glass of cocktail, the last portion of the cocktail is drunk 2 hours before bedtime.

For the next seven days, it is recommended to eat only cereals, low-fat dairy products, vegetables, and fruits. After this period, you can add meat to the menu.

Such a diet will help to significantly replenish the supply of vitamin C and saturate the body with vegetable proteins.

Buckwheat with fried vegetables

In this dish, it is important to cook the cereal correctly so that it turns out dense and not overcooked. It is equally important to roast the vegetables beautifully. Then the dish will be elegant and appetizing.

Let's prepare:

• a glass of cereal;
• medium onion;
• zucchini;
• two cloves of garlic;
• a couple of dense tomatoes;
• half a small head of cauliflower, disassembled into inflorescences;
• salt pepper.

For such a dish, it would be nice to take a zucchini squash and chop it without removing the skin. This will give the dish a bright look.

Next we do this:

1. Peel and chop the vegetables.
2. Pour buckwheat into a saucepan, add two glasses of water and, bringing to a boil, cook over low heat until tender.
3. While the cereal is cooking, cut the vegetables into beautiful cubes.
4. Pour vegetable oil into a frying pan and heat it. First fry the onions over high heat, and then alternately add finely chopped garlic, zucchini, cabbage, peppers and, at the very end, tomatoes.
5. Season with salt and pepper and add buckwheat to the fried mixture. Mix.
6. Now all that remains is to reduce the heat to low and keep the dish on the fire for about five minutes so that the cereal absorbs the aromas and flavors of the vegetables. Serve with chopped herbs.

With added meat

A very tasty and nutritious dish is obtained if you add a little meat to the vegetables. It can be finely chopped pork, beef or chicken. Or you can use ready-made minced pork and beef. In any case, buckwheat with vegetables and meat is a hearty and tasty dish.

We take the following products per 150 g of raw kernels:

• 1 piece each carrots and onions;
• 3 pcs. bell pepper and tomatoes;
• 250 g minced meat or meat;
• a couple of cloves of garlic;
• half a glass of broth (if not, replace with water);
• 100 g sour cream;
• one and a half glasses of water;
• a little vegetable oil for frying;
• a little pepper, salt and dried herbs.

Let's prepare it like this:

1. The first step is to boil buckwheat in water. While it is cooking, make the sauce.
2. If meat is used, it should be cut into small pieces and fried in vegetable oil until cooked. Then add onions, garlic, carrots and peppers one by one, then add mashed tomatoes and sour cream. Add salt, pepper, add herbs, stir and simmer for ten minutes.
3. Add buckwheat porridge to the prepared sauce and stir again and heat for several minutes.

If you cook with minced meat, then first the vegetables are fried, then the minced meat is added and all the components are cooked together. After that, add sour cream and tomato and simmer. Add buckwheat.

Composition and calorie content of grain

Buckwheat has a relatively low calorie content and is easily absorbed by the body, which makes it an excellent food product that is also great for children. There are 313 kilocalories per 100 grams of buckwheat, the composition is distributed as follows:

• Proteins - 12.6 grams.
• Fat - 3.3 grams.
• Carbohydrates - 62.1 grams.

In addition to the rich taste and harmonious distribution of components, the cereal contains many useful vitamins (A, group B, E, H, PP, T), beta-carotene and a huge amount of various minerals, which are very important for the normal functioning of the body. Buckwheat contains potassium, iron, magnesium, manganese, copper, titanium, molybdenum, nickel, chlorine, cobalt, tin, vanadium, boron, chromium, iodine, sulfur, selenium, fluorine, silicon, zinc.

Naturally, natural unprocessed cereals contain much more useful vitamins, since any heat treatment destroys a significant part of them. But sprouted green buckwheat is exceptionally rich in “benefits”, has a milder taste and delicate texture, which distinguishes it from other sprouts.

How to make a chicken dish

A simple, hearty, no-frills dish is prepared with chicken. For a glass of buckwheat we take a couple of legs (or four or five drumsticks), a couple of cloves of garlic, an onion and a couple of tbsp. spoons of mayonnaise.

More materials: buckwheat with chicken in a slow cooker

Now we do this.

1. First, soak the buckwheat in a glass of boiling water for ten minutes.
2. While it swells, cut the legs, season with a little salt and pepper, and then roll in mayonnaise.
3. When the meat is slightly marinated, cut the onion into half rings and fry a little in a frying pan with butter.
4. Transfer the cereal with the liquid into a mold, add the onion, and put the chopped garlic there. Salt everything and mix.
5. Now all that remains is to place the chicken legs on top of the buckwheat and cover with foil and bake the dish for about an hour. About ten minutes before you are ready to remove the foil, the chicken legs should be deliciously browned.

Varieties of buckwheat-vegetable diet

A diet based on buckwheat and vegetables can be different: strict and more gentle, classic. Nutritionists recommend not boiling the cereal, but steaming it with boiling water and leaving it until it swells completely. It is not recommended to add salt, spices, or butter. All this stimulates the appetite. Not everyone likes to eat this dish, as it turns out to be quite bland, so various recipes have appeared with cereals and vegetables, dietary meat and a minimum amount of salt.

Vegetables, as a rule, are also not salted. They can be stewed or eaten fresh. Potatoes are not included in the list of acceptable foods.

If we talk about the classic diet, then you need to take a glass of buckwheat, steam it and divide it into several servings throughout the day. You can eat raw vegetables as a snack. It is advisable that the amount of vegetables consumed is no more than 0.5 kg per day.

If you need to lose weight faster or the amount of extra kg is large enough, the diet can be made more stringent. One day they eat only steamed cereals without salt, the next day - vegetables. In this way, alternate 7-10 days, not forgetting to drink 1.5-2 liters of clean water per day. You can drink between meals and not earlier than an hour and a half after eating, otherwise the gastric juice will be diluted and the food will be digested more slowly.

To speed up your metabolism, you can add a little ginger or lemon juice to your morning glass of water before breakfast.

You should not indulge in coffee, sweet tea, or yoghurt. The body perceives all this as food. The only way to avoid dehydration is with clean, non-carbonated water without sugar.

Recipe in the oven

Typically, recipes for preparing buckwheat with vegetables are based on the classic combination of carrots, onions and sweet peppers. We offer a recipe in the oven, which is fundamentally different from all traditional ones. But rest assured, the result is no less tasty and healthy.

This is buckwheat with cabbage, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, cooked in milk.

You will need:

• cauliflower – 100 g;
• Brussels sprouts – three heads of cabbage;
• milk – half a glass;
• water – half a glass;
• pepper, coarsely chopped dry paprika, salt;
• buckwheat – half a glass;
• butter – 1 teaspoon.

We will bake in pots (the layout is given for one large one). Cooking:

1. Pour the washed cereal into the pot.
2. Place cauliflower inflorescences and Brussels sprouts on it (if it is large, then cut into quarters).
3. Salt, pepper, sprinkle with paprika, add milk and water, add butter.
4. Cover with a lid or foil and place in the oven for 40 – 45 minutes.

The benefits of green buckwheat

Until recently, it was extremely difficult to find unroasted grains on the open market, and they were not in great demand - everyone was trying to find high-quality processed grains made from pure grains without including unrefined black fragments. According to the degree of grain integrity and mechanical processing, buckwheat is of the following types:

• Yadritsa is a large, clean grain that can be “green,” that is, natural and unheated, steamed or fried.
• Prodel - grain crushed into large pieces.
• Flakes are flattened kernels.
• Flour is an excellent dietary product that does not contain gluten, and therefore ideally replaces wheat flour in the diet of people intolerant to this component.

So what are the benefits of green buckwheat and why is it so popular these days? The fact is that this product has a very good composition, is perfectly absorbed by the body and brings many benefits, without promoting the deposition of fat on the sides, without clogging the body, without provoking negative consequences. But before you start consuming a green product, you need to analyze the composition and properties of the cereal, because Every food has its own benefits and harms.

Important! Our grandmothers and mothers carefully sorted the buckwheat before putting it in the pan. It’s worth following their example, 5 minutes spent sorting through will provide delicious and perfectly clean food without any inclusions.

Buckwheat merchant style

A delicious version of buckwheat with pork has become a classic dish of Russian cuisine.

For 300 g of boneless pork you will need:

• 2 cups buckwheat;
• 1 onion;
• 1 carrot;
• 3 tbsp. spoons of vegetable oil;
• 20 g each of parsley and dill;
• ground salt and pepper, spices to taste.

Let's prepare it like this:

1. We cut the pork into small pieces. Fry in oil until crusty over high heat.
2. Season with spices and salt. Reduce heat, fry until cooked and place in a saucepan with a thick bottom.
3. Pour diced carrots and onions into the vacated frying pan and fry. Combine in a saucepan with meat.
4. Fry the buckwheat in a dry frying pan and also transfer it to the pan.
5. Add 4 cups of boiling water, add salt and cook for 30 minutes over low heat until the cereal is cooked.
6. Sprinkle the plates with herbs and serve the buckwheat on the table.