BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Vegetarian Quinoa

Jason thanks for going out of your way and calling the store. Well i cooked it up this morning.
It said on the package to rinse it first in a strainer. well i stood there looking at these little itty bitty things and wondered if they would just flow right threw the holes of my strainer, so to be safe i lined the strainer with paper towels, now i'm wondering where every thing will rinse off to its all just sitting in a strainer full of water. lol (grandma can't cook)
Well i ended up just cooking it like oatmeal and i couldn't think of any thing fancy to do with it so i ate it like oatmeal i added honey to it.
Not for nothing but I think i will just stick to plain old oatmeal. its cheaper and nothing fancy.
Jason is it suppose to be eaten like oatmeal?
Hope your enjoying time with your family; Hurry back

Hey Rosie,

I am thoroughly enjoying my family!

I would say that eating it like oatmeal is my least favorite ways to eat it. I don't find that it delivers the flavor that I care for in that form.

I prefer it savory.

did you get a chance to see my article on quinoa?

I've got to run but I'll plug back in as soon as I'm able. We should be back in town by tomorrow late afternoon/early evening.

God bless guys.

Rosie -

One of the easiet ways to rinse quinoa is to line a small colander with a coffee filter. Then you don't have to worry about the quinoa washing through the holes - or the paper towels getting stuck to the grains!

And quinoa really has a very nutty, earthy taste - so it is a lot better (in my opinion) if it is cooked savory rather than sweet.

A real easy thing to do would be to throw some minced garlic in olive oil on the stovetop - then toss in the rinsed quinoa and sautee until the grain is golden. Then add vegetable stock to it, and a little soy sauce. Cook for about 15 - 20 minutes until the liquid is abosrbed.

This is a very simplified version of the recipe I posted earlier - but it will give you an idea of what the grain tastes like, and it doesn't take a whole lot of prep time.

Thanks Michelle, hope your having a good week end

Hey Rosie,

Another way my wife and I cook the quinoa when we're in a hurry is to put allof the ingredients in the same pot with it and bring it up to a boil cover it and reduce it to a very low simmer until all ofthe liquid is absorbed and then we tend to leave it on for a little bit longer to give it that character and texture that we're so used to in our grains. We don't think there's many worse things than soggy grains so we remedy that by seasoning them well and not over saturating them.

Unlike a lot of the recipes, where they will say 2 parts liquid to 1 part grain, we've found that the flavor is far more intense when we add more like 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 parts liquid to 1 part grain. It keeps the flavor from being diffused too far into the dish.

Some of the things you may use in your quinoa are slivered tri-color peppers, onions, garlic, peas, raisins, cilantro, mint, etc.

Let me know how that turns out.

I made quinoa this week to accompany some adzuki beans. I just cooked the quinoa in beef broth instead of water and added some garlic & onion powder. Veggie broth would work just as well, I'm sure. I use it, too, but I had a can of beef broth on hand.

Sorry veggies, I'm still omnivorious.

Maybe I'll give it another try.

I am happy to say that I baked traditional macaroni and cheese for a pot-luck last week with gluten free quinoa and cornmeal noodles, and it was a big hit. The macaroni noodles were new at my local coop, and the brand name is "Ancient Harvest." They also had quinoa and cornmeal lasagna pasta which I would like to try...

Shay

Niice Shay,

Thanks for the tip! I'm going to see if I can find that over this way. Sounds very interesting and tasty.

Did the noodles take any getting use to? or did they taste like regular pasta?


How would you describe them?