Quinoa - it's SO good!!!

I'm never one to shy away from trying new food, and I remember vividly trying quinoa in a past life a long time ago in Sydney, at one of those shiny fabulous lower North Shore vegetarian cafes. The salad was delicious, but on moving back to NZ quinoa wasn't quite such a thing, and I hadn't had it again until quite recently.

But, like many new foodie things, I somehow couldn't make the transition from ordering it at a restaurant, to buying it and cooking it myself. Which, if you've ever cooked quinoa, is quite hilarious, given that it's no more complicated than steaming rice.

Luckily Small Town has an excellent supermarket with brilliantly stocked bulk bins, so I got some quinoa (in experimental quantity only) and whipped it up for lunch.

How to Cook Quinoa

First, rinse the seeds (yep, it's a seed, but you can call it a grain - everyone does) to get rid of the bitter, soapy coating. Don't make a production out of this, just grab a sieve/colander/strainer (pick your nomenclature) and zhush those babies about under running water.

Then plonk them in a pot of water, 2 cups of water to every 1 cup of quinoa. Add salt if you like, cover, then bring to the boil. I have elements that retain the heat pretty well, so at this point I turn it off to steam, alternatively just drop the heat down to the lowest setting and steam until you can see holes appear in the top of the quinoa - about 15-20 minutes. Then just fluff it up with a fork and it's done.

I ate the first lot I cooked for lunch, making my favourite kind of salad-ey explosion - adding things to the bowl until I was satisfied with the look.  Tuna (in olive oil), feta, baby spinach leaves, capsicum, olives, a handful of roughly chopped mint and chives from the garden, lemon juice (remind me to do a post on our rugged lemon tree one day), olive oil, and a sprinkling of chopped almonds and cashews.

Last night I made a second batch for another salad explosion - this time using leftover slow-cooked rolled roast beef, spinach leaves, super slow cooked zucchini and onion (done in cast iron pan with loads of olive oil), roast pumpkin, feta and haloumi. Add some giant squeezes of lemon juice, salt and pepper, and it was good to go.

I'm keen to hear of more yummy ways with quinoa, so if you have a favourite, let me know.