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Friday, February 1, 2008

Quinoa- Never heard of it- is an ancient food

I found out about Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wah). " It is an ancient food that is not yet well known in North America. It has been cultivated in South American Andes since at least 3,000 B.C. and has been a staple food of millions of native inhabitants. The ancient Incas called quinoa the "mother grain" and revered it as sacred."
more interesting information at
http://chetday.com/quinoa.html

I found and tried this recipe (below) and it was quite good with beef ribs. But you can use it with anything. Make sure to rinse it well first. I cooked it quite well because if done , the center of the grain disappears and they appear as tiny "little quarter moons".

Curried Quinoa Recipe
Serves Six to Eight
1 Cup Quinoa
11⁄2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
1⁄2 Onion Diced (about 4 or 5 ozs.)
1 Tsp. Grated Fresh Ginger Root
1⁄2 Fresh Green Chile (Finely Chopped)
1 Heaping Tsp. Turmeric
1 Heaping Tsp. Coriander
1⁄4 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1⁄2 Tsp. Salt
13⁄4 Cups Water
1⁄2 Cup Fresh or Frozen Peas

1. Rinse quinoa with cold water. Use a fine mesh filter or coffee filter. If you're a klutz like me use the fine mesh filter or a lot of quinoa is going to wind up in the sink!

Quinoa is coated with a natural substance called saponin that protects the grain by repelling insects and birds. Rinsing the quinoa is important to avoid a raw or bitter taste. You can tell if there is saponin by the production of a soapy looking "suds" when the seeds are swished in water.

Good news! If you are using Ancient Harvest Quinoa you can skip this step. It's already rinsed!

2. Place oil and diced onions in a heavy saucepan. Saute the onions on medium high heat for four to five minutes.

3. Add the ginger root, chile, and quinoa. Cook for one minute stirring constantly.
A fine, white spiral appears around the grain as it cooks.

4. Stir in the turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, and salt. Cook for one minute stirring constantly.

5. Add the water and bring it to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Stir in peas. Cover and cook for four or five minutes or until peas are tender and all the water has been absorbed.

7. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Scroll down this page for optional ingredients...

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Optional Ingredient for Curried Quinoa: 1 to 2 Tbsp. Chopped Cilantro. Exercise caution on this ingredient. There are two kinds of people - those who love cilantro and those who hate cilantro. Nobody is in between. So, if you know you like cilantro go for it! If you don't know whether you like it add it at your own risk. You might break some leaves off of fresh cilantro in the grocery store. Crush it between your thumb and finger and smell it. If it smells good you're probably a cilantro lover. If it smells like old gym shoes you probably hate it. My advice? Make the curried quinoa without it and see how you like it. If you do wind up adding cilantro, you add it at the very end when you're fluffing the quinoa with a fork.
Curried Quinoa serving suggestion: This dish is great with pork tenderloin and peach salsa. It's also great with fish.

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