Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Quinoa--I Love It

A while back I read about quinoa in Men's Health magazine. I gave it a try and I really like it. I've cooked it with water or chicken broth and used it as a side, put it on salads, and made Spanish quinoa with it. I need to try and make pudding with it also. It could be breakfast or dessert.
I buy my quinoa at Central Market and they also sell it at Whole Foods. The last time I went to buy it CM was out of it in the bulk section so I bought a box of red quinoa. Tonight I cooked up some Spanish quinoa (using the red quinoa). For some reason I feel a lot less guilty when I eat quinoa than I do when I eat rice.

Spanish Quinoa

1 c. quinoa
1 Tbl. oil or butter
1 cup water or chicken broth
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
Comino
Cilantro

1. Pour quinoa and oil into pan and toast over medium-high heat for about two minutes.
2. Add water, tomato sauce, comino, and cilantro.
3. Stir mixture just enough to ensure that the sauce and spices are evenly distributed.
4. After the mixture comes to a boil reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes. When the quinoa is done it will be slightly clear (more apparent on the regular quinoa than the red) and a ring will be visible around each grain. I have had some trouble with this lately. I cook it for a long time (I think the box says 15 minutes) over low (but not the lowest it will go) heat. As with rice, do not stir it while it is cooking.
5. When most of the liquid has evaporated stir and serve.

Note: I have heard that some quinoa needs to be rinsed. This is a complete pain in the ass and then makes the toasting part harder because the quinoa is wet. The first couple of batches I bought said nothing about rinsing, then about a month ago the label said to rinse it. What a nightmare--each grain is so tiny that I didn't have a mesh sieve fine enough. The stuff my mom bought in the bulk section of Whole Foods didn't mention rinsing. I think I'll buy it from there next time. The boxed quinoa didn't have to be rinsed either, but it was more expensive than the bulk stuff. Also, I know the photo doesn't make it look very appetizing, but it tastes pretty good.

Nutrition Information:
I just looked up the nutrition information for uncooked quinoa v. uncooked rice (100g).

Quinoa......................................................Rice
Cal: 374....................................................365
Fat: 6g......................................................1g
Carbs: 69g................................................80g
Fiber: 6g...................................................1g
Protein: 13g..............................................7g

So, looks like quinoa may be a bit better for me, provided I don't add a bunch of fat.

3 comments:

k. said...

Hey D.--I just had a thought...making kicheree with quinoa would provide even more protein and fiber!

Team Serrins Springfield said...

So more fiber and protein are the big pluses it looks like. I bet it would be good in Kicherie. I have a friend who uses all different beans in her kicherie-just whatever she has or wants to try. I've never strayed from the mung beans. Tonight I'm going to try brown jasmine rice though in the batch I make.

Team Serrins Springfield said...

Oh yeah. We're having a get-together and I think y'all will be in town that weekend. I couldn't find your e-mail in my list but I had Ross' so I sent the e-vite to him. Hope y'all can come.