Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook: A Seasonal, Vegetarian Cookbook (4 page)

You can also purchase brown rice flour, which has a nutty flavor that’s great in muffins, brownies, cookies, and cakes, and you’ll find it used in recipes for all of those in this book. For those on a gluten-free diet, rice also comes to the rescue as pasta in the form of numerous types of Asian noodles, as well as a few good brands of rice pasta that you’ll find in most natural food stores.

Although we tend to think of rice as a crop that grows in warm, wet conditions, it apparently originated from a wild grass growing in the foothills of the Himalayas perhaps as much as ten thousand years ago. It must have a lot to commend it for because since then it’s been bred to survive and thrive in a broad range of conditions, leading to the countless varieties in existence today. Here are descriptions of a few of my favorites as well as some great standbys.

Bhutanese red rice
is grown at eight thousand feet in the foothills of the Himalayas, where it’s irrigated with mineral-rich glacial meltwater. This short-grain russet-colored rice has a nutty flavor that can bring you back to earth. The first time I tasted it was at a natural food trade show. I was buzzed on organic chocolates and organic wines, and somehow my first bite of this earthy heirloom rice relaxed me and helped me feel grounded and centered. This amazing rice also cooks quickly (in just twenty minutes), which is remarkable for unrefined rice. It’s great on its own, or try it in pilafs, puddings, or sushi. We have Lotus Foods to thank for the availability of this heirloom grain, which they rescued from obscurity. If you can’t find it locally, you can order it online from Lotus Foods (see Resources). If need be, you can substitute Wehani or short-grain brown rice.

Chinese black rice
is a medium-grained nutty-flavored rice that has a lovely deep purple hue when cooked. Legend has it that it was once grown solely for the Chinese emperors to ensure their good health, and forbidden for everyone else. In Chinese medicine, black rice is said to be high in qi and to nourish the kidneys, energize spleen function, warm the stomach, brighten the eyes, and stimulate blood circulation. Serve black rice plain to highlight its stunning color, or use it in pilafs, soups, puddings, and stir-fries. It’s also great in sushi, but because its grains remain fairly separate when cooked, it’s best to combine it with a stickier variety, such as sweet brown rice. It’s especially delicious cooked in coconut milk. Black rice is most commonly available as Forbidden Rice, a trademark of Lotus Foods, the company responsible for resurrecting this ancient grain. If you can’t find it locally, you can order it online from Lotus Foods (see Resources). If need be, you can substitute medium-grain brown rice or Bhutanese red rice.

Jade Pearl rice
is another gift from the great folks at Lotus Foods. I’ll admit up front that this gorgeous, pale-green rice is more refined than most of the rices I use. Pearl in the name refers to the fact that it’s pearled, so much of the bran is removed. Jade, of course, refers to the wonderful color—the result of infusing the rice with a bamboo extract. The result? A lovely, soft, aromatic rice that’s much higher in fiber than many refined grains, and also loaded with antioxidants from the bamboo extract. Savor it on its own, or try it in sushi and pilafs. If you can’t find it locally, you can order it online from Lotus Foods (see Resources). If need be, you can substitute short-grain brown rice, brown basmati, or Madagascar pink rice.

Madagascar pink rice
is a russet-colored, medium-grain rice that hails from marshy areas in the Lac Alaotra region of Madagascar. It’s grown by a farmers’ cooperative and once again we have Lotus Foods to thank for bringing this rare rice to Western markets. It’s a great eco-friendly choice, as it requires less water and land to produce high yields, and cooks quickly, as well. It has a soft texture and subtle sweet flavor that makes it ideal for pilafs, stir-fries, sushi, salads, and puddings. If you can’t find it locally, you can order it online from Lotus Foods (see Resources). If need be, you can substitute brown basmati or brown jasmine rice.

Brown rice
is a pantry staple in green and gluten-free kitchens. Look to long-grain brown rice when you want a light, fluffy texture with individual grains. Short-grain brown rice cooks up dense, moist, and a bit sticky, so it’s a better choice for sushi, rice puddings, and rice balls.

Brown basmati rice
is an aromatic long-grain brown rice that cooks up light and fluffy. It’s a great choice for salads, pilafs, and for cooking in soups.

Brown jasmine rice
is an aromatic long-grain brown rice that cooks up moist and tender. Its delicate, almost floral scent pairs nicely with coconut milk and makes it a natural for Asian-inspired dishes.

Sweet brown rice
has a slightly sticky texture that makes it perfect for sushi and rice balls. For more visual interest, flavor, and a wider range of nutrients, try cooking it in combination with Bhutanese red rice or Chinese black rice.

Sorghum

Sorghum, also known as milo, is a small round grain with the texture of pearled barley. It looks a lot like a large version of millet. In the United States, if most people think of sorghum at all, it’s as feed for cattle—or perhaps sorghum syrup. That’s a sad fate for a grain that has long been a staple in some parts of Africa, Asia, and India. Fortunately, there’s renewed interest in sorghum these days, perhaps because this hardy crop tolerates a wide range of environmental conditions, from arid uplands to moist tropical settings. In recent years, this delicious grain has started to make an appearance in Western markets, so now we can all enjoy cooking with it. While it isn’t a nutritional powerhouse compared to other grains, it is a good source of iron, potassium, and fiber, and also provides a few B vitamins. It’s even lower in lysine than most grains, so the quality of its protein isn’t as good.

Look for sweet white sorghum, both whole and as a flour. It’s the best-tasting and most digestible variety. And don’t be put off by “white” in the name. That’s not white as in refined, it means the grain itself is a pale color. It has a flavor similar to untoasted buckwheat, and a texture that makes it a good stand-in for barley. Try it in marinated salads, pilafs, and soups. Sorghum flour looks a lot like wheat flour and has a pleasant, slightly sweet flavor, so it’s a favorite in gluten-free baking. When baking, you can use a small amount of sorghum flour (15 to 20 percent) to boost the protein content.

Teff

Teff is a tiny grain native to the hills of Ethiopia, where it’s used in a wide variety of dishes—most famously the ubiquitous spongy flatbread known as injera. It’s been said that teff was the perfect grain for the seminomadic people of this region because it’s so portable; since its grains are so small, just a handful can be used to sow a respectable area. In the 1980s, teff made a remarkable journey to Idaho, thanks to Wayne Carlson. As an American biologist working in the Ethiopian highlands in the early 1970’s, he developed a taste for injera. After he returned to the United States, he noticed that the countryside of Idaho’s Snake River Plain was remarkably similar to the uplands where teff is grown. He founded the Teff Company, which today grows both brown and ivory teff, and also produces flours from each. Like many other ancient, alternative grains, teff is amazingly hardy and grows in a wide range of conditions, from arid to positively waterlogged.

In all whole grains, nutrients concentrate in the germ and the bran. Because teff is so tiny, the germ and bran make up almost the whole grain, making it impractical to refine, so any form of teff is a whole-grain product, by default. It offers fairly high-quality protein, but like most true grains it is somewhat lacking in lysine. It’s high in fiber, iron, and some of the B vitamins and is also a good source of calcium, and other minerals.

Teff’s tiny grains have a texture like poppy seeds and a mildly sweet flavor reminiscent of chocolate, hazelnuts, and molasses. (The flavor of ivory teff is milder.) For me, teff was love at first bite. I first tasted it back in 1989 and immediately contacted the Teff Company to see how I could help spread the word. I developed fourteen recipes for them, which are still in use on their website. Two decades later, I’m still in love with this fantastic grain. Whole grain teff cooks quickly (in just fifteen to twenty minutes) and blends well with a wide variety of vegetables, seasonings, other grains, and fresh and dried fruits. In these pages, you’ll find it in recipes for porridge, stews, loaves, fritters, and more.

Teff flour is extremely versatile too. It’s my first choice when making waffles, pancakes, piecrusts, and cookies, even though I don’t have to avoid wheat. As you explore the recipes in this book, you’ll find recipes for all of those, and more. Teff flour can be substituted for 100 percent of the whole wheat pastry flour in recipes for pancakes, granola, cookies, and piecrusts; you’ll just need to add about 25 percent more liquid.

Wild Rice

Having read about the other gluten-free grains, perhaps you won’t be too surprised to learn that wild rice is neither a rice nor a true grain. The long, slender, black “grains” are the seeds of a marsh grass that grows primarily in shallow waters of north-central North America. It has long been sacred to the Ojibwa, who continue to harvest it using traditional methods. Harvesters paddle out in canoes and gently brush the seed heads rising above the water with wooden sticks, threshing the rice into the canoe. All of that said, true wild rice has defied attempts to domesticate it, so most of the wild rice sold in the United States is from hybridized versions grown in rice paddies in Minnesota and California. Support the natives (plants and human) and seek out truly wild rice.

Wild rice is a better source of protein than most true grains, containing a fairly good amount of lysine. It’s also high in many minerals and some of the B vitamins. It has a delicious nutty flavor and a pleasantly chewy texture. It blends well with other varieties of rice, making it a natural for pilafs (see pages 118, 125, and 126). Wild rice flour is also available. It has an earthy, nutty flavor that’s delicious in pancakes and other baked goods.

So now you’ve met the gluten-free grains. There are just a few other ingredients that are worth getting to know because of the important role they play in gluten-free baking. While flour is generally made from grains (including the psuedograins described above)—and far too often from wheat—flour can actually be made from virtually any food that you can grind until powdery: almonds, hazelnuts, and chestnuts, not to mention fava beans, garbanzo beans, and even mesquite beans. Here are a few more of my favorite ingredients for gluten-free cooking and baking.

Coconut Flour (and Oil)

Some people used to live in fear of coconut, especially coconut milk and coconut oil, because it’s high in saturated fat. As it turns out, its fat is in the form of medium-chain triglycerides. Without getting into the technical details, I’ll just say that these fats don’t seem to increase cholesterol levels and don’t seem to have the same negative impacts on heart health as other saturated fats. Because coconut oil is a saturated fat, it has an important virtue: It’s much more stable (at any temperature) than monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. I prefer to use extra-virgin coconut oil because it has more coconut flavor and aroma, which I love. I also feel an enhanced sense of health and vitality when I eat it.

But back to flour: Coconut meat can be made into flour, and it too has great health-promoting properties. It’s high in fiber and a good source of protein, and also aids digestion, promotes weight loss, regulates blood sugar levels, and protects against diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. When baking, you can replace up to 20 percent of the other flours with coconut flour. Because it’s so high in fiber, it absorbs more liquid than other flours. To adjust for this, add an equivalent amount of additional liquid to the recipe. I love it in waffles in combination with other flours like sorghum, corn, teff, or quinoa.

Nut and Seed Meals (and Butters)

For years, quite a few health-conscious Americans had fat phobia and tried to avoid most high-fat foods, including nuts and seeds. Thankfully the pendulum is swinging the other way, and we now recognize that nuts and seeds are a good source of healthy fats. They’re also a good source of protein and other nutrients, including antioxidants. In their whole form, nuts and seeds add wonderful texture to all sorts of foods, from pilafs to pancakes and from cookies to crisps.

Nut meals, or nut flours, are another great way to enjoy the fabulous flavors of nuts while also reaping their nutritional benefits. They tend to be heavier than other flours, so if the recipe calls for baking powder or another leavening agent, you may want to increase the amount a bit. Baked goods made with nut meals may be a bit more fragile, but the delicious results more than compensate. You can buy nut meals, but because nuts are high in fat, the meal can go rancid quickly. If you purchase it, store it in the refrigerator or freezer. But the better option is to make your own.

Making nut and seed meals.
It’s quick and easy to make nut and seed meals. Just grind nuts or seeds in a seed grinder, coffee grinder, blender, or food processor until powdery. There are just a few things to watch out for: If using toasted nuts or seeds, be sure they’re cool before you grind them; otherwise you’re likely to end up with nut butter (tasty too, but not what you’re looking for). And for the same reason, be sure to grind with a series of short pulses. The best nuts and seeds to use in this way are almonds, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, and walnuts.

Making nut and seed butters.
Nut and seed butters definitely have a place in baking. And while peanut butter cookies are always a hit, why not try almond butter, hazelnut butter, or other nut and seed butters? They also make a great addition to soups, stews, and sauces, where they create luscious, creamy textures without a speck of dairy. If you like, toast nuts and seeds before grinding them—about ten minutes in a 350ºF oven should do it. Keep a close eye on them and also let your nose be your guide. Whether toasted or raw, just put the nuts or seeds in a food processor and process for a minute or two—or however long it takes. Stop from time to time to scrape down the sides (and to let the motor cool down). If the result isn’t as moist and smooth as you’d like, you can add some oil, just a bit at a time. The result may not be quite as smooth as what you can buy in the store, but it will be fresh and delicious, and probably a lot less expensive.