Spelt Berry Salad

I found this recipe on one of the blogs that I follow regularly “The Daring Gourmet” and was immediately interested by it. I love this kind of hearty salads, which can be eaten on their own and which include grains or beans or noodles. I have eaten many bulgur or couscous salads before, but it is the first time I made a salad with spelt grains.

Kimberly at the TDG also posted cute pictures of her daughter eating this salad and so I asked my own little girl today if she would like to taste this. I didn’t really expect she would (she’s in her picky phase now, not as bad as her brother before but still… it is sometimes really annoying), but she did want to try. It must have been the pink color of the salad. Anyway she tried it and she ate it, a lot of it. I found that so funny that I had to take some pictures as well, the same way Kimberly did. I hope she doesn’t mind me copying her but I just thought it was funny. This salad’s name should actually be “The little girls’ pink salad”.

By the way, my boy didn’t like the salad, he didn’t even want to try it. It must have been the pink color of it as well.

You can find the original recipe here. I modified it a bit, as I was missing some ingredients like celery (totally forgot to buy them) and water chestnuts (finding something like this in our area would be close to a miracle, I did try water chestnuts once, while I was living in London, but if I’d want to eat them now I’d have to order them online). I also made the salad with spelt because I already had the grains in the house and used a bit more red cabbage.

I had a polished sort of berries, which we sometimes eat for breakfast. They only need 20 minutes cooking time. I am sure you can use normal spelt or wheat berries, just cook them longer (according to the instructions on the package).

The result was great, I ate the salad for lunch and dinner today.

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Spelt Berry Salad

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 200 g/ about 1 cup spelt berries
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups shredded red cabagge
• 2 medium shredded carrots
• 4 green onions
• Dressing:
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons honey
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Cook the spelt berries in salted water according to your package instructions. I cooked mine for 20 minutes. Drain well and let cool down a bit.
2. Combine the berries with the shredded vegetables.
3. Mix together all the dressing ingredients and combine with the salad. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper.
4. Let sit for about 2 hours before serving and serve at room temperature. Don't forget to offer some to your little girl.

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