How to Prepare Quinoa
By Carolin
Quinoa is here to stay. The nutritious litte seed tastes great and is fast and easy to prepare.
It tastes somewhere between rice and lentils with a nutty flavor. And it is a very good, healthy replacement for rice, pasta, couscous or potatoes. Our search for alternative grains have started and we are no longer content with the “old” grains.
I cook quinoa all the time. Every time I serve it my four year old says “I like this rice”. I think it’s cute and I love the fact that all my kids eat quinoa. And honestly it’s so much tastier than rice so who wouldn’t like it.
Not too bad for the cook either since it only takes about 10 minutes to prepare it. Since I always try to use healthy food I have a serious issue with rice. 40 minutes to prepare rice! Sorry that does not fit into my daily cooking schedule. 10 minutes for quinoa is more my style.
Quinoa is very nutritious and a good source of:
- vitamin B
- vitamin C
- vitamin E
- calcium (contains more than milk)
- phosphorus
- iron.
Quinoa is gluten-free and has a low Glycemic Index (GI) which makes it prefect for anyone with diabetes or anyone who would like to lose weight.
Since quinoa contains all essential amino acids it is a complete protein. But it is still much easier to digest than proteins from meat and dairy.
Here is How To Prepare Quinoa:
To bring out the great nutty flavor prepare it like this.
- Most quinoa needs to be rinsed before you boil it.
- Boil the quinoa according to instruction on the package. Usually you need 2 cups of water for 1 cup of quinoa . Boil until the water has been absorbed (10-15 min).
- Alternative to bring out the nutty flavor: Take the boiled quinoa and saute it gently with sliced garlic in wok or frying pan.
Other spices that work really great with quinoa are cumin and coriander and fresh herbs.
Quinoa is prefect to add to soups, stews and chili.
When you make a quinoa salad cook the quinoa according to step 1 and 2 above. Let is cool. Then add your favorite salad ingredients. Truffle oil and basil makes your quinoa salad absolutely fabolus.
Or why no start you day with hot quinoa cereal.
Ingredients (serves 4)
2 cups water
1 cup quinoa
1/5 cup raisins
1/5 cup dried apricots
2 teaspoons of chopped almonds
Bring the water to boil. Add quinoa and boil at low temperature for 5 min.
Stri in the other ingredients and heat gently until all the water is gone.
Another way to get a really healthy breakfast is to drink a Loaded Quinoa Smoothie. The protein is prefect to kick start your metabolism in the morning. It is also a great drink before and after exercise.
The Incas worshiped quinoa and referred to is as “mother of all grains”. The seed is seen as one of the reasons that the Incas became so powerful. When the Spanish came they banned quinoa to weaken their opponent.
Image by FranUlloa.
Learn More About.. complete proteins, calcium, alternative grains, salad, healthy breakfast, quinoa, healthy cooking
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Thanks for the recipe Im going to give this one a try
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I might have to try this. I haven’tever had this type of food and it looks like it could be used effectively in a number of dishes. Always good to test out a new recipe.
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It is fun to try new recipes. Quinoa has a very good taste, especially when you fry it a little after it is boiled. I use it a lot as a substitute for rice.
I have also tried Quinoa recipes. It is really very healthy with vitamins B, C,E and has high content of calcium. Nutritious and healthy way of starting a day indeed.
Qunioa is becoming one of my favorite ingredients. It’s tasty, easy to cook, easily accessible and inexpensive.
Thanks for posting information about quinoa- it is such an interesting food source. Although its use does appear to be on the increase, it would be nice to see this seed become more of a staple in the USA (and elsewhere). I didn’t know that the Spanish had banned it. Thank goodness they couldn’t get rid of it entirely. Quinoa is still an important food source in Peru. If you go to the Peruvian highlands, you can see fields cultivated with this grain and can buy it in stores and markets. It’s even sold as a tasty, granola-like snack bar.
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I need more protein in my diet since I am staying away from meat. As your article says that quinoa contains all essential amino acids it is a complete protein; so I am looking to quinoa for satisfying my protein requirements. Thanks a lot for the post. I am sure this would be really helpful and i hope it doesn’t taste too bad
You’ll be surprised Paul. Sauteed quinoa tastes really great.
I have to say I have never heard of Quinoa, but it sound like the alternative I have been looking for. I have found lately that I cant digest rice or past that easily and this sounds like it would be much better. Thanks so much.
Those seeds look sooooo edible to me. Just hate it that they don’t sell these over where I am from
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I know unfortunately they don’t sell them everywhere. Good thing is they have a long shelf-life so you can stock up when you find them.
They have actually become my three-year old’s favorite foods.
I love quinoa. I mostly make tabouli with it combined with short grain brown rice. Just don’t like the all quinoa salad so much. I’ve also tried a really good quinoa/rice pasta. Forget the brand however I think it was imported from Europe. Gluten free. I really couldn’t tell it wasn’t regular pasta. Anyway I was wondering if anyone knows the shelf life of cooked quiona in the fridge?
@ Diana. I’m always carefull with food I store in the fridge. I hardly every store cooked food more than 3-5 days. I’ve heard of people storing rice and quinoa much longer.
A great way of storing your cooked quinoa is to freeze it in poition sizes. Take one bag out of the freezer, heat it up and serve.
Thanks for your reply, Carolin. I ended up storing my quinoa tabouli in the fridge for 5 days and it was still good (finished it off). Your answer confirmed my intuition. Up to five days felt like a safe/right amount of time to me. I have stored cooked rice in the freezer but never quinoa. Thanks for the tip on that as well.
I have suffer from arthritis so i like you to answer me. Is this seed contains high amount of uric acid. By the way thanks for sharing this info.
Quinoa is an alkaline to neutral forming food. But if you have any healthy concerns you should always check with your doctor first.
I LOVE QUINOA!!! I had the best time when I lived in Peru for many years, and quinoa was one of my favorites! I would always have quinoa and oatmeal for breakfast and it would keep me going strong almost all day. It is packed with vitamins and good stuff! Plus the fact that it does not have gluten makes it attractive to many allergy-afflicted people. Gotta love health food!
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Hi there Carolin, I really enjoy readig your blogs after your previous on ‘how to reduce fall allergies within your home’.
I will have to give this one a try, although i am not the sort of person to get the oven gloves on at home! I have’nt tried this type of food beforebut i must say it looks delightful and could be used effectively in a number of differant dishes.
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Okay, maybe I should have read this before I posted the comment on the other article about your quinoa breakfast recipe.
I blatantly used too much water when I cooked it in the past, so I need to try it again following this recipe. That smoothie sounds great too and I can throw in a couple of raw eggs for a real protein blast.