Quinoa is all the rage at the moment, but often after eating it you are probably wondering why, its not like there has been a party in your mouth and everyone attended now is it. I remember first using Quinoa a few years ago as a super food salad in a restaurant i worked in, sorry to break it to you but there are no superfoods it is just click bait, but quinoa certainly has some good stuff about it, firstly its one of the only plant based proteins to contain all 9 essential amino acids great for muscle building and by dry weight, quinoa provides
16% protein, which is higher than most cereal grains, such as barley, rice, and corn, I would say a must in any vegan diet. It is a relatively good source of fibre which can help control cholesterol and keep your regular which is very important. Quercetin have you herd of that!! if not chances are you will soon, and no surprise quinoa hits that marker too, with a good all round mineral content its no wonder large food company market quinoa as a super food, but its often not delicious, well thats were chefusionist comes to the rescue with a simple method on how to get the most out of your next quinoa recipe try my method
I like to soak the quinoa in water for around 5 to 10 minutes, they coat it in some chemical to stop it from clumping together, then drain it off and gently rinse it through a fine strainer, place a pan on the stove on a medium heat add a small drizzle of olive oil, then think spice what is your favourite, i like cinnamon and star anise for earthy flavours or cumin and coriander for North Africa flavours, you can use what suits you best, add them to the warm oil and gently toast them for around 3 mins to release their oils, then add a couple of diced onion a pinch of salt and slowly cook the onions down to soft and transparent, now add chopped garlic along with chopped rosemary and thyme cook for another 2 or 3 mins, now add the quinoa and toast it gently stirring constantly for about 2 mins, now add the
stock (veg or chicken best options) how much well i like a ratio of 1 3/4:1 stock or water to quinoa ratio, bring to a simmer and cook as low as you can while still gently simmering, add some salt and pepper, cook like this until almost all the liquid has evaporated about 10 to 15 mins, then place a lid on and turn off the heat, leave it to steam for another 10 mins with the lid on, now remove the lid and fluff it up with a fork, add lemon zest, chopped herbs like mint parsley, roasted sweet potato or pumpkin, roasted chickpeas, avocado, tomato, garlic, basil honestly i could go for hours but i have to go and check on my quinoa