Never heard of a wheat berry? When these little guys are milled, that is how we get whole-wheat flour! If you want to add a true WHOLE grain to your meals, wheat berries are a good place to start. You may walk past them, without knowing their true potential; but they are loaded with vitamins, protein and fiber. They have a delicious nutty flavor, and a pleasant chewy texture.
I get tired of alternating between rice and potatoes for dinner; so things like wheat berries can really change things up, while getting some added nutrition. I hope to do some more recipes in upcoming posts using things like Farro, millet and freekeh. (other amazing whole grains)
In this salad, I cook the wheat berries simply in my rice cooker (which takes about 20 minutes) though you can certainly cook it on the stove top just as you would rice. I added some beautiful rainbow carrots in ribbons, along with my favorite citrus fruit: BLOOD ORANGES!!! They have an amazing raspberry-citrus flavor, with a slight bitterness but still sweet if that makes any sense? Who cares, LOOK AT THEM!!
Forgive my excitement,I just really love blood oranges! I used the remaining juice from them after I segmented the flesh to create the dressing. You can honestly add anything to the wheat berries and it would be delicious. They soak up the flavors you add, without wimping out on you like other salads. (Shout out to Samantha at The Little Ferraro Kitchen and #nomorewimpysalads)
One tip though: definitely be sure to season the water you cook them in very well with salt. They’re like potatoes in that sense, and they need a good bout of seasoning.
Ingredients
FOR THE SALAD:
- 2 cups cooked & cooled wheat berries (I cooked mine in rice cooker, but you can cook on stove top like rice)
- 1/2 English cucumber, diced
- 2 Rainbow carrots (regular carrots are fine too!) in ribbons (use a peeler to make long strands
- 1 yellow, orange or red pepper, diced
- 2 blood oranges, segmented (reserve extra juice for dressing)
- 1 cup lettuce mix (spinach, kale or cabbage are fine)
FOR THE DRESSING:
- 1/2 cup blood orange juice
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspooon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
For the dressing: Mix all ingredients but the olive oil, and then stream the olive oil in while whisking.
- Once the wheat berries are cooled, you can add some of the dressing to them to let the wheat berries absorb the flavors. Right before serving, you can arrange the other ingredients and toss gently with more dressing.
[…] Another thing I changed was instead of using rice, I wanted to try wheat berries. When wheat berries are ground, they are actually what produce whole wheat flour! So it’s a great way to add in extra nutrition. I made another delicious recipe with them once which was a Wheatberry Salad with Blood Orange Poppy Vinaigrette […]