I found a small bag of wheat berries buried in my pantry during the ongoing kitchen remodel. (Ugh! When will there be running water!!!) It was forgotten there for a couple of months, maybe. I had seen a wheat berry salad at the Whole Foods and Bi-rite in the Mission. My original idea was to try to recreate one of these, but I never got around to it and forgot about the wheat berries.

After this culinary rediscovery, my mind got working on it again. There are some interesting recipes out there. Here’s one, and another and another.

Mine has a bit of an Asian influence. I saw this exciting recipe while perusing a bookstore in Berkeley, which I adapted to my taste and the ingredients available at home. Of course, I didn’t have a pen and it didn’t occur to me to call home with the name of the author/chef. I am terrible. I’ll try to find out and credit the author later.

Wheat berries are a little hard to cook: it took over an hour, and even after that they remained a bit chewy. I think that’s how they’re supposed to be? I tasted them every few minutes towards the end until it reached a point where they wouldn’t soften anymore.

They ended up chewy, as I’ve said, but also nutty and they sort of burst in your mouth with the first bite. I really enjoy the taste. Turns out they’re supposed to be good for you too.

It is an excellent side dish, but you can easily make it your whole meal.

pink wheat berry salad with kale and beets in tahini dressing

2½ cups cooked wheat berries
1 bunch kale, roughly chopped
4 small to medium red beets, thoroughly cleaned
For the dressing:
3 tbsp tahini
2tbsp water (or more)
2 tbsp shoyu
1tbsp ponzu sauce
3 tbsp rice bran molasses
Juice of 1 large lemon
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 garlic clove crushed
½ tsp vinegar

Preheat oven to 275F.

Wrap beets individually in tin foil. Place them on baking tray and roast for 90 minutes or so. Beets are ready when poked with a fork it offers no resistance. Let cool, peel and cut into small chunks.

Cook wheat berries as above. Once they’ve cooked, just drain, rinse and let cool to room temperature.

Steam kale until soft (steaming will preserve its flavor and natural ingredients), let it cool to room temp.

Add dressing ingredients to a bowl and whisk until incorporated. If too thick add a bit more of water. It should be somewhere between thick and runny. Adjust flavors. You are looking for that sweet, sour, smoky, nutty taste imparted by the combination of each of the individual ingredients.

Toss salad ingredients together and then the dressing. Let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.
I had leftovers for lunch a couple of days later and it was still perfect: creamy and much pinker than that first day. Delicious!