We recently bought our first bag of kamut out of plain curiosity, since it’s a pretty interesting cereal. It is actually a trademarked organic crop, essentially a certain type of wheat, but with larger berries and more protein than the regular wheat. Kamut berries are pretty chewy and have a nice round flavor, but somehow I wasn’t immediately enchanted by them. Maybe it was the lengthy preparation process that had accumulated too much anticipation for my first attempt. Luckily my second try was a hit, and I found out that I do like kamut a lot – I just rather have it in salads than as a plain side dish! Its toothsome texture goes especially well with the crispy bell peppers and juicy orange chunks in this particular salad.
This is a lunch salad I made for myself the other day, and we had the leftovers as a side dish for a few days after that. I love the combination of oranges and red onions, and the freshness of the fruit was a very nice contrast to the earthy flavor of kamut. I don’t see why kamut couldn’t be replaced with another less expensive grain in this recipe: wheat berries, spelt berries, or even whole brown rice would most likely be very nice.
Here’s what I put in my salad:
- 5 dl cooked kamut
- 1 orange, chopped
- 1 large red bell pepper, cubed
- 6 sundried tomatoes in oil, rinsed and chopped
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, pressed
- 1 fresh red chili, deseeded and chopped
- juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teapoons salt (or more to taste)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- freshly ground black pepper to serve
Kamut is a grain that requires soaking overnight and even after that, a normal cooking time is about one hour to an hour and a half. I cooked mine in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes, and then let the pressure come down naturally for 10 minutes.
After the kamut had cooled down, I just tossed all the ingredients in a bowl, and refrigerated the salad for a few hours before serving. It actually got better and better over the next few days, so refrigerating the salad overnight would marry the flavors nicely.
Right before serving, I crackled some black pepper over the salad. Very nice served with homemade crackers or a nice crusty bread and hummus!
9 Comments
looks really good! but I don’t think i’d have the patience for making the kamut. ;)
evestirs – thanks for the comment! Kamut is totally worth the trouble, once you remember to plan ahead a little bit…
Extra points for use of the word “toothsome”. I love the combination of fruit and veg in this dish. I will certainly be making it. Yum! (as usual)
Oh thanks Sinead! I’m slowly building my foodie vocabulary, the extra points are very much appreciated… Combining fruit with vegetables is so much fun, I agree.
This salad looks great! I have a bag I brought back from Italy – pink kamut and I think I might try this recipe and throw in a couple of avocados.
Looks interesting, I have never tried kamut, but your recipe got me interested….
I always wanted to buy a bag of kamut. Now I really should to make this outstandingly beautiful salad!
This happens to me with quinoa, I hate it as a side dish, love it in salads! Maybe I should try kamut too!
Greetings from Montana. I married into the “Kamut” family and now work full time for the company. My husband’s uncle and grandfather were the ones to start growing Kamut(R) brand grain and trademarked it to protect the integrity of the ancient variety and ensure that it is always organically grown. I was delighted to see your article and your recipe looks great! We have a ton of recipes on our website at http://www.kamut.com as well. My favorite is a Mediterrean Kamut salad with feta, red peppers, olives, balsamic, olive oil, parsely cilantro etc. Thanks again for your support of Kamut brand grain and spreading the word!
Tara