Buckwheat

Buckwheat is a trigger food for me. If I was born in a James Bond film that would be my trigger to KILL! But I was born in Moscow and so it reminds me of granny, my childhood and all that good stuff. Buckwheat is very rich in iron and zinc, so if you don't have a lot of money, or are a vegetarian, it's a good energy food to balance out your diet. And it tastes really good, nutty but not too strong.
The kind I buy is from Eastern European shops and the grains are a darkish brown, but you can also get it from healthfood shops and some supermarkets - I saw a bag in Waitrose a few weeks ago, and it was greenish, almost untoasted. This is probably better for you, but I grew up on the shelf stable stuff, so that's what we're going to cook.
The method is very similar to cooking rice - for every cup of buckwheat you need two cups of water. You must wash it to stop it from turning mushy, but instead of putting it in a colander and running water through it, just pour it in a bowl and swirl it around with your hand, then drain. Bring to the boil and turn the heat down so it cooks very gently. I always use a pan with a glass lid for it so that I can spy on what's happening without opening the pan up and letting all the steam out. When there is no more liquid left on the surface, switch the heat off - it needs to steam to completion. What I do at this point is sprinkle it with salt and put about two tablespoons of butter in to slowly melt and trickle in, this flavours the buckwheat and gives a light fluffy texture.
Oh and I take back what I said about foraging a couple of weeks ago.
Serve with a giant creamed Bolete your dad found in the forest. Yum yum