This delicious Wheat Berry Salad is my go to pot-luck salad, it makes plenty and always pleases the crowd. I hope this recipe does give you ideas, you are free to add or take out anything you want from the ingredients.
Do I need to soak pulses?
There has been many discussions about whether or not you should soak pulses in water overnight. This is valid also for chickpeas and wheat berries. You can read more about this in www.missvickie.com.
Some are totally against soaking, they claim that the taste is better when not soaked and the only other difference it takes more time to cook and that there is nothing to do with the gas and soaking. You can read more about this opinion at LA Times. So let me close the subject saying that it is totally up to you.
I prefer to soak. But if I have forgotten to or if it is a sudden decision then I go ahead and boil the pulses for a longer time. So it is more or less a “don’t-worry-be happy” situation. The below picture is of soaked and not soaked chickpeas, which can give you an idea about how soaking will reduce the cooking time.
Ingredients of Wheat Berry Salad
Wheat berries: 200 grams(1 cup) berries will be enough to make this salad. You can use berries in soups and also for making a pilaf similar to bulgur pilaf. Just make sure to boil it before hand, as it takes time to cook wheat berries.
Chickpeas: 200 grams (1 cup) of boiled chickpeas will make a balanced salad. You can use canned chickpeas, but they will lack the sweet crunchiness of the chickpeas prepared from scratch. If you are using canned chickpeas make sure to drain before adding to the salad and reduce the amount of salt.
Green Peas: go ahead and use frozen peas as studies have proved that frozen green beans have more minerals and vitamins.
Dill: If you are not a fan of dill, replace it with chopped parsley.
Spring Onions: add a lot of color and flavor to this salad. Substitute with red or white onions if not available.
Fresh peppers: Take out the seeds, cut to small cubes and add to the bowl.
Pickles: The chopped pickles pieces will be a surprise when eating, they give this sweet bitter saltiness, yummy.
This recipe is a very healthy, hearty and a colorful one. Although it is called a salad it is also very filling too. It makes a huge serving dish, so you can easily invite others to share, or take it to a potluck party.
If you have liked this salad, you might be interested in trying out my Turkish Tabbouleh recipe next time. I hope you will try and enjoy it.
Wheat Berry Salad
Ingredients
- 200 grams wheat berries
- 100 grams chickpeas
- 75 grams green peas
- 10 spring onions chopped
- 6 stalks dill chopped
- 1 red pepper chopped to cubes
- 1 green pepper chopped to cubes
- 6 gherkins pickles chopped
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon’s juice
- 1 tablespoon pomogranate sauce
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Soak the chickpeas and wheat berries in water to cover the night before. Soaking will make the cooking shorter. This recipe is prepared considering that you will soak, if not just cook longer.
- On the day of preparation rinse, add fresh water and boil the chickpeas and the wheat berries separately until well done. They will both double in size. Taste to check whether ready.
- If you will be using fresh or frozen peas boil or even better steam-cook until edible. If you will use canned peas skip this step as they are already very soft.
- Then drain all the boiled/steamed ingredients and set aside until they cool.
- Meanwhile rinse and chop the dill.
- Discard the seeds of the red and green peppers and chop to small cubes.
- Also chop the pickles to tiny pieces of similar sizes.
- In a big serving bowl mix the olive oil, salt, lemon juice, pomegranate sauce, red pepper flakes and salt.
- Then add all the steamed/boiled/canned ingredients and mix well.
- Sprinkle the chopped dill and serve chilled.
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