Thread: Quinoa
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Julia Altshuler
 
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Default Quinoa

If you're going for the authentic Peruvian dish, try to find quinoa.

It is pronounced keen-wa.

If you're going to get technical botanically, quinoa isn't a grain in
that it isn't in the grass family and doesn't have the same sorts of
leaves or seeds that grass has. Other than that, it cooks like a grain,
looks like a grain, has the nutritional components of a grain and is
found in the grain section of the store. I call it a grain, and no one
corrects me.

Look for quinoa in health food stores.

Rinse the quinoa first. Put it in a sauce pan with 3 times as much
water. Cover. Bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer. Simmer for 15
minutes. Lift cover and have a look (and taste). Sometimes it needs a
tad more water or a few more minutes to cook through. In other words,
cook it like rice.

You could substitute cracked wheat (my first choice) or cous cous or
kasha or short grain brown rice (my second choice). Barley would be too
soft.

Quinoa is a favorite of mine. In fact, my substitutions usually go the
other way around. The recipe will call for cous cous or cracked wheat,
and I use quinoa instead. I make quinoa tabouli now without thinking
that the recipe originally called for cracked wheat.

--Lia



Jarkat2002 wrote:
> I have found a recipe for Peruvian Chicken Ragout that calls for Quinoa. I
> have never heard of this grain before (I had to google it) and don't have it in
> my pantry (yet). I'm not even sure it's considered a grain, some sites say
> yes, some say no.
> The recipe calls for 1/2 cup ... can I substitute barley instead? Or rice?
> Would it still be 1/2 cup and would I cook it before adding it to the soup?
> The recipe does not call for the quinoa to be precooked.
> Thank you!
> ~Kat
>
>
> "I think I would like to call myself 'the girl who wanted to be God'. Yet if I
> were not in this body, where would I be--perhaps I am destined to be classified
> and qualified. But, oh, I cry out aginst it." --Sylvia Plath