Russian Sauerkraut salad with raw hummus

 
I apologize for abandoning the blog for more than one week, but as I already have told in my previous post, my exams have started, and most of you know what does it means: very few hours of sleep and coffee to don’t fall asleep. In fact, I have been almost living in the library during the last week. Sometimes I even took the dinner in a tupperware with me, to go straight to the library, without going to home.


Today I did the most feared exam by all the students…mathematics: derivatives and commercial arithmetic (simple and compound interest rates, amortization schedules, effective interest rate….). Not only because the subject by itself is difficult, but also because nobody likes the teacher.  Luckyly, our economics teacher has been understanding with us, and we had too hours more to study.

I took advantage of one of those lessons to go to the canteen for a coffee because I was falling asleep. I was excited because on the menu it was written that you could order your coffee with soy milk instead of regular milk, but when I asked they told me they didn’t have. Although it’s on the menu, I am sure I was the first person who asked for soy milk. And now an anecdote: coming back to my classroom, I was so absent-minded (the caffeine didn’t do its effect yet) that I didn’t realize I passed through my corridor…and I entered in another class where a teacher was giving lesson! I was so embarrassed! I closed the door quickly, but I suppose I looked quite stupid with a cup of coffee in my hand, and a expression of surprise on my face.


My teacher have already given me back my Russia project, checked and corrected. Although I have some mistakes, I was sure I would have more because it was a long project. If someone is curious, I could post some parts of it. It’s called “Changes: Russia 50 years ago and now. A comparison of my parent’s and today’s Russia. A reflection about how a country did change in half a century”

Although I have my end-of-year exams, I have been reading anyway these days (I can’t help it…I like too much reading) The last book I read, was “Fourteen cities including Brooklyn”, by Quim Monzó. He is a quite famous journalist and writer, at least here, in Catalonia. He has got many books, mainly of short stories, but also newspaper articles. This is the case of “Fourteen cities including Brooklyn”. He writes about different events in that articles, from the falling of the communist in the Czech Republic Hungary, to the terrorist attack of the 11th September. The funniest part it’s an ironical description of the behavior of tourists in Barcelona. It’s worth reading.




Russian Sauerkraut salad with raw hummus

Hummus on bread or veggies is great, but sometimes is great to experiment. Another way to eat it is in salads, and that is what I did. I used Sauerkraut because I had a huge bottle of it in the fridge, but If you can’t find it and you can’t manage doing homemade Sauerkraut (mine was homemade), you can try substitute it with shredded cabbage. Anyway, homemade Sauerkraut is not difficult: you just have to shred the cabbage, a few carrots, and add the right amount of salt, sugar and spices to taste. Although real Sauerkraut must be leaved to stand for a quite long time (many weeks), we never wait so much: a week is enough for the cabbage to ferment. Russian Sauerkraut is called “kvashanaya kapusta” (fermented cabbage), and it’s one the most typical Russian dishes. Usually is served with plain boiled potatoes or meat (although, of course, this is not my case). It is sold in every market (mainly by old ladies). It’s especially delicious with sunflower unrefined oil, which I have never seen in Spain. Its aroma is much more intense and fragrant, and the taste can’t be compared with the refined one. Just delicious.

You can substitute the buckwheat for any other grain, and the sprouted chickpeas are option (in the case you have already transformed all you sprouted chickpeas in hummus) I added them just because I like to find something crunchy.


-1 cup Sauerkraut
-3 radishes
-1 carrot
-1/2 cup buckwheat
-raw hummus (at taste)<
-pine nuts (or any other nuts)
-sprouted chickpeas *optional
-olive oil
-salt

1. Cook the buckwheat. It must be boiled for about 30 minutes. After adding the water, don’t stir the grain: the water must evaporate alone. Check it from time to time to be sure there is enough water to don’t burn it.

2. Shred the carrot and slice the radishes.

3. Mix the cooked and cooled buckwheat, carrots, radishes, pine nuts, Sauerkraut, salt and olive oil. Put the hummus on the top and serve.

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