Holy ancient grains, Batman!

by Marisa McClellan, Posted Aug 15th 2007 @ 10:39AM

Despite my status as the child of natural food loving hippies, I don't think I ate quinoa until about four years ago. I had a friend who was working on eliminating wheat and rice from her diet and so was looking for alternatives. Someone suggested she check out quinoa and so she started experimenting with it, creating some seriously delicious dishes in the process. I particularly remember some stuffed acorn squash that were ridiculously delicious.

Across the country, at about the same time, my sister started eating it regularly. One of her favorite ways to use it was as a base for quick meals, like her signature Bean-wa, Green-wa, Quinoa. That would be a can of beans (garbanzos mostly), some cooked greens (spinach, kale, chard, collards, whatever she had around), some sauce (typically Trader Joe's masala simmer sauce, but anything meant for pasta works well) and a couple of cups of cooked quinoa. Stir together, heat and eat.

photo by Marisa McClellan

For those of you not in the know, quinoa is an ancient pseudocereal (not actually a cereal grain, but a seed that acts like a grain when cooked) that has been around for over 6,000 years. It was one of the primary crops of the Incans, in large part because it is a complete protein on it's own. It doesn't need to be paired with any other food (like how rice must be paired with beans) in order to provide total nutrition.

Cooking quinoa is really easy, because once on the stove it acts much like white rice. It gets two parts water to every one part quinoa (and it really fluffs up when cooked, so keep that in mind when estimating how much you will need). I boil the water in the kettle before adding it to the pot with the grain, but I don't believe that is necessary, it's just my habit. I always add a pinch of salt at the beginning of cooking as it gives the quinoa a little more flavor once finished. Then I use it the way I'd use any other grain, in salad in place of couscous, under sauteed veggies instead of rice, in soups in place of barley. It is terrifically versatile.

Here are a few recipes for ways in which other folks are using quinoa these days:

Southwestern Quinoa at Fun with your Food
Salade de Quinoa Rouge Poivrons et Pignons at Chocolate and Zucchini
Quinoa Salad with Pecans and Fresh Herbs at About.com
Tofu Mole with Quinoa, Portabellos, Peppers and Zucchini at Vegan Improv
Quinoa and Grilled Zucchini Recipe at 101 Cookbooks

Filed Under: Ingredients
Tags: ancient grains, breakfast, complete protein, dinner, grains, lunch, nuts, pseudocereal, quinoa, recipes, seeds, south america

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-15-2007 @12:14PM Zachary said... On the DVD for David Lynch's movie Inland Empire, one of the special features is Lynch cooking quinoa. It's kind of a goofy special feature, but it was mildly interesting since I had never cooked or eaten quinoa. I actually just watched that part of the DVD this morning, right before I saw this post.
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8-15-2007 @12:13PM LeisureGuy said... Another great ancient New World food: chia seed. Do a google search and you'll find many sources. Cooking not required. And great nutritional value.

Quinoa, BTW, is not a grain. It's the seed of the goosefoot plant (not a grass).
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8-15-2007 @12:36PM Annie said... Personnally I think it tastes like, and looks like boiled punctuation.

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8-15-2007 @12:57PM Jesse Harris said... I tried quinoa once and really wanted to like it, but it just didn't measure up for me. I think the most exotic I'm going to be on a regular basis is spelt.
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8-15-2007 @2:01PM alwswrite said... I like to use it as a lower-calorie (and unprocessed) alternative to couscous. Makes great tabbouleh, base for Moroccan dishes, pilaf with nuts and dried fruit...
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8-15-2007 @4:30PM eva said... I usually give my quinoa a two-or-three-minute soak in a jar of lightly vinegared warm water (1T or so to a quart), shake it around a bit and drain it before cooking it. It gets off the soapy-tasting saponins on the outside, which leave me (no, seriously) with really weird BO for a day or two. In case you were wondering. Does anyone else have this issue??
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8-15-2007 @5:49PM suzyyyy said... I have found that rinsing the Quinoa in cold water for a minute or two before cooking is an easy way to get rid of the Saponins, which are bitter and not tasty. This makes Quinoa taste much milder-- alot like an al dente cross between white rice and couscous.

My favorite thing to do with Quinoa is to stir a big blob of pesto into it while it is still warm, and top with stir-fried (or steamed) veggies.
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8-16-2007 @1:11AM funwithyourfood said... hey there!
I make my Quinoa in a rice maker. There is NOTHING more easy than that and when it's 90 degrees outside I don't need to stand over a stove (definite plus there!). :)

Teddy
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8-16-2007 @9:22PM Dan Riley said... Like Teddy said, I cook mine in the rice cooker.
One cup of Quinoa, two cups of water. It takes about 30 minutes.
Could not be easier.
One of my favorite things to do is put a few tablespoons of
sun dried tomato pesto on it while it's still hot and mix it in good.
Delish.

Dan
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