• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Forager Chef

Foraging and Cooking Mushrooms, Wild and Obscure Food

  • Home
  • About
  • Mushrooms
    • Mushroom Species Archive
    • Posts by Species
      • Other
        • Lobster Mushrooms
        • Shrimp of the Woods
        • Truffles
        • Morels
        • Shaggy Mane
        • Hericium
        • Puffball
      • Polypores
        • Hen of the Woods
        • Dryad Saddle
        • Chicken of The Woods
        • Cauliflowers
        • Ischnoderma
        • Beefsteak
      • Chanterelles
        • Black Trumpet
        • Red Cinnabar
        • Yellowfeet
      • Gilled
        • Matsutake
        • Russula / Lactarius
          • Candy Caps
          • Saffron Milkcap
          • Indigo Milkcap
        • Fairy Rings
      • Boletes
        • Porcini
        • Leccinum
        • Slippery Jacks
    • Recipes
      • Fresh
      • Dried
      • Preserves
    • The Basics
  • Plants
    • Plant Archive
    • Leafy Green Recipes
      • Leafy Green Plant Varieties
    • Wild Fruit
      • Wild Plums
      • Highbush Cranberry
      • Wild Grapes
      • Rowanberries
      • Wild Cherries
      • Aronia
      • Elderberry
      • Nannyberry
      • Wild Blueberries
    • Wild Herbs and Spices
    • From The Garden
    • Nuts, Roots, Tubers and Grains
    • Stalks and Shoots
  • Meat
    • Four-Legged
    • Poultry
    • Fish/Seafood
    • Offal
    • Charcuterie
  • Recipes
    • Pickles, Preserves, Etc
    • Fermentation
    • Condiments
    • Appetizers
    • Soup
    • Salad
    • Side Dishes
    • Entrees
    • Baking
    • Sweets
  • Video
    • The Wild Harvest
    • Foraging Videos
    • Lamb and Goat Series
    • YouTube Tutorials
  • Press
    • Podcasts
  • Work
    • Public Speaking
    • Charity and Private Dinners
    • Forays / Classes / Demos

Buckwheat Kasha with Mushrooms and Onions

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Buckwheat kasha with wild mushrooms, caramelized onions and dill recipe

Buckwheat kasha with wild mushrooms and onions is a classic piece of Eastern European comfort food you need to try. I was ignorant of it for a long time, and I can’t believe it took me so long to get around to it. For me, it’s a dish that’ll  always be tied to a particular day. Here’s what happened:

I was outside in the yard when a car pulled up. After a car door shut, I heard women talking, and the unmistakable cadence of an Eastern European accent. “Russians?” “Here?” “Of course, they’ve come for the mushrooms”. I thought grimly. I didn’t think they’d venture this far into Wisconsin past Willow River Park, since there’s as many types of slippery jacks there as the day is long. 

Fearful, I went back to the house before I going over to say hi and meet/inspect our visitor, making sure the fresh hen of the woods and honey mushrooms I’d picked that morning were covered up and hidden in the fridge behind all the cabbage and beets I could find. Afterword, I made sure to wash my hands, arms and face to remove any mushroom smell. If I know one thing, it’s that more than anything else in the world Russians have a lust for wild mushrooms, so you can never be too careful. 

I walked out of the house, smiled, and said hi to my girlfriends colleague Anastasia from who’d stopped by for the afternoon. She came carrying a large sack of some food stuff in a curious looking yellow bag. “I brought you kasha!” She said enthusiastically. Before I could tell her that I didn’t have any of the wild mushrooms around she would demand as tribute for such a gift, and ask if she would accept beets in their place, she starting telling us all about the kasha.

The Rice of Russia 

Roasted buckwheat kasha

Anastasia told us that buckwheat kasha was the “rice of Russia” and that, at the beginning of the year while Americans had gone and scooped up all the skim milk, white sugar and fettuccine (or whatever it is we eat) she and her family had stocked up on kasha like the end times were coming. Lowering my guard, I asked her how she liked to cook it. A few different recipes came up, but cooked with onions and mushrooms was the one that stuck with me. Kasha with onions and honey mushrooms would be on the menu that evening, a fitting combination with the way Russians love their honey mushrooms, I thought.

Roasted buckwheat kasha close up

The pyramidal shape of the groats/seeds is unique, the remind of me beechnuts in a way. 

Grateful for the new-to-me food to play with, on a whim, I asked Anastasia if she liked mushrooms (a great conversation starter if you’re ever around someone from Eastern Europe). Her eyes visibly widened, and, like clockwork, she started gushing about how much she loved them, and all the different ways her family enjoyed them. Before she left, I made sure to give her my largest hen of the woods to say thank you, and the happiness in her eyes as she carefully cradled it to her car made this mushroom hunting Scrooge’s day. Funny enough, she’d never been mushroom hunting in the U.S. yet. Now that she knows, I give it until next season until she’s picking her own. 🙂 

Aborted and non-aborted Entoloma abortivum or shrimp of the woods

I used aborted and non-aborted entolomas for this batch, but any mushrooms will work.

More than pancakes 

Most people in America will know buckwheat as a flour, maybe one that makes a really good pancake. I’ve always loved a good buckwheat pancake, and I relied the flour occasionally to make gluten free dishes like crepes and Italian pizzoccherri noodles for diners here and there. I also like the color it gives to my scrapple. But somehow, someway, cooking with buckwheat groats/seeds escaped me until earlier this year. I knew they were a thing, I just never had an excuse. Suffice to say I’m ashamed it took me so long. 

Buckwheat kasha with wild mushrooms, caramelized onions and dill recipe

This makes a nice 12 inch pan full, because you’ll want it.

One bite and you’ll see why it would be easy to eat your weight in Kasha. It has the tender give of white rice, but a deeper aroma and flavor from the roasting process. Just like rice, it’s super versatile, and useful in everything from soups, stews, pilafs and side dishes to breakfast. It’s just a hardworking, delicious starch.

The toasty-ness gives it a natural affinity for caramelized onions, mushrooms, butter, poultry fat, and, strangely enough, pasta. Along with cabbage soup, a simple dish of cooked kasha is one of the national dishes of Russia. If you want to try some for yourself, Uvelka Brand is what Anastasia brought us, and said it was the brand she preferred from back home. 

What follows here is essentially the simple kasha recipe with mushrooms and onions Anastasia related to me as we spoke. And it is so addictive it could probably make slippery jacks taste good. I used aborted and non-aborted entoloma mushrooms, and I prefer my onions cooked quite dark. Some fresh dill is optional. Passing butter at the table is not. 

Buckwheat kasha with wild mushrooms, caramelized onions and dill recipe

Buckwheat kasha with wild mushrooms, caramelized onions and dill recipe
Print Recipe
5 from 11 votes

Buckwheat Kasha with Wild Mushrooms and Onions

A simple recipe for roasted buckwheat kasha with caramelized onions, wild mushrooms, butter and herbs. It's dense enough to be a main dish by adding a salad, some leftover meat, and a dollop of sour cream. Serves 4-6
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time30 mins
Course: Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine: Russian
Keyword: Kasha, Wild mushrooms
Servings: 4

Ingredients

Kasha

  • ¼ teaspoon salt plus more to taste
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup roasted kasha/buckwheat groats*see note

Mushrooms and Onions

  • 4 tablespoons animal fat especially duck or chicken fat, or unsalted butter
  • 8 oz yellow onion 1 large diced ½ inch
  • 12 oz wild mushrooms
  • Fresh chopped dill or your favorite herb optional

Serving

  • Unsalted butter softened, for serving

Instructions

Kasha

  • Bring the kasha and water to a boil in a small pot the the ¼ teaspoon of salt, then turn the heat to low, cover, and cook until the kasha is tender, about 15-20 minutes, then keep warm.

Mushrooms and onions

  • Meanwhile, in a large pan, cook the onion on medium high heat in the fat until starting to brown and fizzle around the edges, then remove from the pan and reserve (can be done ahead of time). I like my onions with a touch of black on them. Leave some fat behind in the pan.
  • Add the mushrooms to the pan with 1/4 cup water and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the pan is dry and the mushrooms are wilted and cooked. Add another spoonful of fat if needed.

Finishing

  • Season the mushrooms to taste with salt and pepper, then add ¾ of the onions to the pan, along with the kasha, double check the seasoning, adjust until it tastes good to you.
  • Stir in the dill, and serve with the remaining onions spooned on top, along with extra chopped dill and soft butter at the table. It reheats very well.

Notes

*If your buckwheat is green, like in most coops I've seen, you can toast the green groats in a skillet until golden to get the same flavor as roasted buckwheat kasha.

Buckwheat kasha with wild mushrooms, caramelized onions and dill recipe

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Print
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit

Related

Previous Post: « Brain Fritters with Gruyere, Lemon and Sage
Next Post: Buttermilk Fried Rabbit »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Laura

    January 2, 2021 at 11:37 am

    Laughing so hard. We have lots of Eastern Europeans in these parts and their fervor for mushroom hunting is like no one else’s.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      January 2, 2021 at 11:42 am

      Thanks Laura. Non-mushroom hunting readers here may have a little trouble understanding the humor here, but it’s ok. I so envy their collective hunger for mushrooming, especially as family units. I think American culture could learn a lot from them. No lie, I’ve seen groups of women with hair nets and walkers in the woods who’ve interrogated me about where I got all my slippery jacks.

      Reply
  2. Kim

    January 2, 2021 at 12:51 pm

    5 stars
    I love all your posts and while I regret not having access to many of the ingredients you use, living in the desert, the photography, recipes and your enthusiasm are simply delightful. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      January 2, 2021 at 1:50 pm

      Thanks Kim. I do travel to AZ every year to see my grandparents and I make a point of gathering barrel cactus fruit every time I’m there. If you haven’t tried those, they’re very good. I’m always on the look out for new things when I go to the desert, unfortunately I go in Jan-Feb so there’s not a lot available.

      Reply
  3. Erik

    January 2, 2021 at 1:09 pm

    5 stars
    Recipe looks great, I can’t wait for the mushroom season to come back around and try it. I was wondering, have you tried cooking wapato/arrowhead? Curious about your thoughts on cooking with it.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      January 2, 2021 at 1:49 pm

      Wapato is great eating, by all means if you can get some try it. Also, if you find a spot you can harvest some near the metro shoot me a message and I’ll come show you how. There’s a few different species around. I’ve only had the smaller ones, the big ones should be even better. It can be really tough to break through the mass of roots in some of the ponds and wetlands they grow in.

      Reply
  4. Jorge Vilanova

    January 2, 2021 at 1:40 pm

    5 stars
    Hello Alan,
    Sorry I have not written in a while. I enjoy your postings even though a lot of them are a bit esoteric for me and getting the ingredients essentially impossible.
    Just curious how the saffron milk cap harvest was this fall and whether you tried the fricando recipe I sent you some time ago.
    I will definitely try the Kasha recipe.
    Jorge

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      January 2, 2021 at 1:48 pm

      hey Jorge. Unfortunately this year I was focused on writing my forthcoming book on plants and working on a few different projects that ate up all my time. Believe me, the fricando is still on deck as soon as I can get some saffron milkcaps. The large species that grow close to me have been absent for years now, and the only dependable patch of L. thyinos is hours away. Hopefully this year. Be well.

      Reply
    • Michael O

      January 4, 2021 at 9:13 pm

      5 stars
      Roasted buckwheat is easy to cook in rice cooker, on rice setting, with the same proportion of water to grain as in rice. My zojirushi makes very nice and fluffy buckwheat. (Authenticity statement: I am from Russia.) 🙂

      Reply
  5. Jacqui

    January 2, 2021 at 2:22 pm

    YES! Kasha with mushrooms and onions!
    My Mom was a great cook, but her older sister, my Aunt Zelda made the best kasha in the known universe. You are close, but Auntie Zelda crisp fried her onions with a little salt in chicken schmalz, pulled them out of the pan and then briefly toasted her kasha (though it was already the roasted kind) in the same pan and fat where the onions had been just to coat the seeds with a little fat. Then she added the water and more salt to steam the kasha. She would turn it off at some magical moment of almost doneness, wait about 5 minutes and then fluff it with a fork while stirring in the onions. This was the kasha that dreams are made of.
    This year I caught the slippery jack flush as they were poking their slimy little heads above the pine needles and I brought home about 3 kg of perfect small buttons one Friday after work. I fried a bunch till they were crispy carmelised, like the onions, and their chocolaty/mocha overtone was absolutely perfect in the kasha. Seriously better than the honeys could have been. I think slippery jacks are hands down the best for kasha but I think that honeys make the best pierogi, and the honeys were really good in the mushroom and lentil pâté en croute I made for the vegan Christmas eve dinner. It was a change from our traditional Christmas eve reindeer roast, of which we keep a supply frozen, purchased whenever one of us passes through the Helsinki airport. When our kids were small my husband told them he caught them on the roof.

    Reply
  6. Peter

    January 2, 2021 at 2:57 pm

    5 stars
    I gotta try this Alan

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      January 2, 2021 at 3:28 pm

      It’s reaaaally good.

      Reply
  7. Lis Ballou

    January 2, 2021 at 10:39 pm

    5 stars
    Think I need to move to MN.
    Where it seems random, purposefully wandering, groups of Eastern-European-accented women who converse away (with authority, enthusiasm & confident expertise) about wild mushrooms & traditional comfort food cooking are commonplace. So much so, that as they walk together, they instill trepidation & suspicion into the protectively territorial heart of the local Forager/Chef only to have said Fchef in a matter of hours, sing their praises & gleefully beg them to take his gift of personally wild foraged Maitake in exchange for a bag of humble grain & a recipe?
    Clearly, these are the women of my ancient, ancestral tribe & my lone, wandering heart has longed since childhood to be in their midst & feel their magic again.

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      January 3, 2021 at 10:16 am

      It gives me so much happiness to see the Eastern European population out gathering foods as a family unit in my area, really something that most Americans could learn from them.

      Reply
  8. Ashley Ford

    January 3, 2021 at 1:39 pm

    This reminds me of my mom’s kasha varnishkas recipe! It’s almost exactly the same, she just added some bow tie pasta to it. You’ve inspired me to make this ASAP!

    Reply
  9. Ashley Ford

    January 3, 2021 at 1:40 pm

    5 stars
    (We are Czech: )

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. A Druid’s Web Log – a time to hibernate like the bears – January 2021 – Ellen Evert Hopman says:
    January 4, 2021 at 2:55 pm

    5 stars
    […] Buckwheat kasha with dill, wild mushrooms and onions […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Categories

Forager Chef

Forager Chef

Instagram

foragerchef

Got treated to a home cooked meal of big lamb meat Got treated to a home cooked meal of big lamb meatballs from the Icelandic lambs @shepherdsongfarm gave us. 

It’s been a while since I had fist-size meatballs. They reminded me of dinners I had with Grandpa at Yarussos in St. Paul, where you got one meatball to rule them all on top of your spaghetti and red gravy. 

Obv I had to make some with venison, wild rice, ramps, and bergamot. The wild rice is fun. Hefty. 

Also forgot to oil my hands, like a chump. 🙄

#ballingonabudget #meatballs #naptime #venison #rampleaves #comfortfoods #rusticfood #monardafistulosa
Tres Leches soaked in candy cap milk was a fun var Tres Leches soaked in candy cap milk was a fun variation I did on the house dessert of a little restaurant I was at for a time. 

Don’t be surprised if you smell like maple syrup a few hours after eating it. Using ground dried golden chanterelles is another variation that’s on my list to try. 

Link in bio to see how to make your own. 

#candycaps #treslechescake #myteethfellout #wildmushrooms #wildfoodlove
ARISE #fungimancer #frostbite #morels #tisthes ARISE 

 #fungimancer 
#frostbite #morels #tistheseason #mushroomhunting #winter #offseasontraining
Big thanks🙏 to all of you who showed your suppo Big thanks🙏 to all of you who showed your support with the first line of spirits @ida_graves_distillery and I collaborated on. 

Brock did a great job wrangling the wild things, and we have plenty of fun ideas in store (think aging nocino in barrels, new flavor combos, etc). If you’re in the Twin Cities and still need some, the amaro is #soldout but @ombibulousmn has nocino, and should have the spruce  liquor (goes down like pine gin) soon. Thank you!

#distillery #foragedcocktails #nocino #craftspirits #drinkatree #mnspirits #smallbatch #godscountry
Let’s talk roadkill. Honestly, roadkill is too s Let’s talk roadkill. Honestly, roadkill is too specific a term for me—I don’t limit myself to vehicular-harvested meat. 

However you feel about the topic, grab some popcorn and head over to the comment section on my blog (link in bio) for the 🔥personal stories from readers have shared from around the world. 

There’s the kid who brought home a nutria after school, a wife getting 4 deer with the same car, a train hitting a herd of elk, a bear named squish, living in a house with weasels, and more. 

#budgetgourmet #gleaning #scavenging #meatismeat #roadkill #freefoods #finderskeepers #wastenotwantnot
Sam Thayer dropped 25 lbs of his highbush cranberr Sam Thayer dropped 25 lbs of his highbush cranberry cultivars (3 types!) on me before the last snowfall and I honestly don’t even know where to start after processing them. I’d already made jams and hot sauce already and I have enough for a year. 😅

Great time to practice the cold-juice which ensures the juice isn’t bitter. 

Anyone else have any ideas? 

You can still find some on the shrubs if the birds didn’t get them up by the north shore. 

#highbushcranberry #winterforaging #birdberries #sweetnectar #foragerproblems #juiceme #embarassmentofriches #wildfoodlove
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Footer

Privacy

  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Pro & The Genesis Framework

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.