Recently when I was talking to Divs of Dil Se about our love for whole grains, I realized that though I enjoyed them in many ways, I had for some unknown reason not posted as many main course dishes like I had done in Baking. So I thought I will post few of them which I enjoy often during Breakfast, Lunch etc. I have mentioned so many times that my lunches are mostly lazy man's meal. Something I can just throw together with ease. Something which does not need my constant attention and gives me scope for multi tasking. At the same time I do not like to use packaged or processed foods either. Quite a hard choice isnt it? So I choose the middle ground. Frozen vegetables. Pressure cooker. I dunno what would I have done without these two handy gadgets.

I do not believe in cooking any sort of legumes or vegetables for long - the nutrition reduces considerably. The best way to cook grains/legumes is pressure cooker. Not only does it make life so much easier for you, but its a healthy choice than stove top. This pilaf is cooked the same way. I had a wild and brown rice mix which I bought few weeks earlier. I wanted to use it along with 2 more grains which was lying in my pantry for a long while now - Kamut (more about it here) and Spelt Berries. In many sites, I find that for cooking such berries, the amount of water is a lot and I almost always end up with excess water. For this recipe for 1-1/2 cups of berries/rice, I was advised by one book to use 10 cups of water (!!!!!!!!!!!). And they also ask you to drain the rice from the water and use it for cooking. Seems like waste to me. I used about 4 cups of water to cook the grains to achieve the chewy consistency which I like. Then added few frozen vegetables along with fresh ones with pecans make a nutritious meal. This recipe is by chef Peter Berley which I have adapted according to the availability of ingredients.