Quinoa
This one isn’t suuuper new to me, but it’s definitely a favourite! I’ve been eating quinoa (pronounced “keen-wa”) for a couple of years.
Quinoa looks like a grain, and gets used like a grain, but it’s actually closely related to beets and spinach; it just happens to have tasty edible seeds.
I heard about quinoa a long time before I tried it. Because “un-washed” quinoa seeds are naturally coated with saponins, which make it pretty unpalatable, the washing process always seemed like to much trouble to go through for me to try it. Nowadays, almost all of the quinoa sold is already washed to remove the yuck, and make it easier to cook.
As far as taste goes, quinoa is mild and slightly nutty. It’s nice and fluffy, and you can pretty much use it in any way you use rice or couscous. Compared to brown rice, quinoa has more protein, more fiber, less carbohydrates, with a little more fat. It’s also a complete source of all our essential amino acids and is gluten-free. And it cooks much faster than brown rice, which is definitely a bonus.
Quinoa also comes in different colours, including: white, red and black.
How do you prepare quinoa?
- Bring 1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of water to a boil then reduce to simmer on the stovetop, or…
- Put it in the rice cooker!
- You know it’s done when the little spirals have separated from the main body of the seed
What can you do with quinoa?
- Replace rice in a recipe with quinoa (Try my Mexican Quinoa Bowl or some super tasty quinoa sushi)
- Make a quinoa salad (This is one of my favourite recipes of all time: International Quinoa Salad)
- Use it like oatmeal for breakfast (Check out: Mango & Coconut Breakfast Quinoa)
- Add it to soups
- Make veggie burger patties using it (I haven’t tried this yet, but have spotted some great recipes)
- SO MANY OTHER USES.
