With the grain: secrets gluten-free cooking - Recipe

Better Nutrition, March, 2002 by Lisa Turner

* Adapted with permission from the recipes page at www.celiac.com.

RELATED ARTICLE: Strictly speaking.

A strict gluten-free diet involves more than just avoiding bread, pasta, cookies and cake. Many foods--including hard liquor, soy products, ice cream and vinegar--may contain gluten or wheat derivatives. Artificial colors and flavors, baking powder and ground spices--even accepted grains like oats and buckwheat--can all be suspect, since they be processed with wheat and, thus, contaminated with gluten. "Safe" grains include: buckwheat, corn, rice, amaranth, quinoa and teff.

In general, if you're aiming for a gluten-free diet, avoid processed foods, stick to accepted gluten-free grains and focus on a whole foods diets made up of fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, meat, seafood, eggs, dairy, and nuts and seeds.

RELATED ARTICLE: News about ancient grains.

After years of hybridization, today's wheat just isn't the same grain our ancestors enjoyed. Over the decades, ambitious farmers found ways to hybridize wheat to make the crop more abundant, and easier to grow, harvest and contain. Increased gluten content allows cheaper production of commercial baked goods. So-called ancient grains have substantially less gluten, more protein and distinctive flavor. Two are ideal for even the strictest gluten-free diets:

QUINOA. Pronounced "keen-wa," this grain is gluten-free and protein-rich. The tiny, beadshaped disks have a delicate flavor that closely resembles couscous. Quinoa can be used in place of rice or millet in soups, salads, main dishes, side dishes and cereals--and it cooks in a fraction of the time. It can also be ground into flour for use in breads, crackers, cereals, pasta and chips. Because the uncooked grains are coated with saponins-- sticky, bitter-tasting compounds that act as a natural insect repellent-- quinoa must be rinsed thoroughly in cool water before cooking.

Use: Cook the whole grain, and add dried cherries, slivered almonds and a tittle honey, or stir in chopped fresh basil, minced sun-dried tomatoes and a line olive oil.

AMARANTH. Originating in South America and Central America, amaranth was a staple food for the 15th-century Aztec civilization in Mexico and was reportedly used in worship rituals. The tiny, bead-like amaranth grains have a hearty, nut-like flavor. They're ground into flour and used in place of wheat in breads, pasta, pancakes, cereals and cookies.

Use: Pop the grains like popcorn. Or boil the whole grains, and add maple syrup, vanilla and finely chopped pecans.

TEFF. In spite of its diminutive size--150 teff grains weigh as much as a kernel of wheat--this tiny grain has a distinctive flavor. Native to northern Africa, teff has been a staple of Ethiopian cooking for thousands of years. It is most notably used in injera, a traditional fermented bread with a spongy texture and yeasty taste.

Use: Add teff flour to gingerbread, or use it instead of wheat flour in pancakes. Cook the whole grain, and serve with sliced peaches and toasted almonds.