Serving Suggestions for Quinoa

NFH

What are the best ways to have Quinoa. I've never had it before, I hear its a little like cous cous and that you cook it the same way you cook rice. I also here its a little bland so any ways of spicing it up.

Also, I am looking for alternative sources of protein like Quinoa(its soppose to be a 'super food', 100% protein or somethin), what are the BEST ones, cheers

Macha

http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/T/taste/recipe07_halloumiquinoa.html

This is a great recipe. I used to have it for lunch every day

tristanc

I love quinoa - I actually prefer it with lentils over brown rice. It takes much less time to cook than rice. Quinoa isn't a complete protein of itself - combine it with beans or such.

Protien wise, I try and rotate through a number of different combos. There's really no magic bullet.

sweet-rasmus

it will go well with whatever meals you eat rice or cous cous with. if you want a strong flavour for this type of food, i suggest to try buckwheat! it's one of a kind; very distinctive taste.

NFH

Had the Quinoa last night, cooked it like rice, boiled it with a little salt, I was really impressed. What kinda of bean etc should I put with it to make it a good complimentary protein dish and are there any other good sources of protein out there in the bean, rice, pulse area. Cheers

Parnassia

NFH wrote: »

Had the Quinoa last night, cooked it like rice, boiled it with a little salt, I was really impressed. What kinda of bean etc should I put with it to make it a good complimentary protein dish and are there any other good sources of protein out there in the bean, rice, pulse area. Cheers

There are loads of other types of protein - beans, lentils, tofu, tempeh, etc.

There are about a million different kinds of beans (this might be a slight exaggeration!) - the cheapest way to get these is in an ethnic (Asian/Indian) shop - you can get a big bag for a couple of euro. These can be a pain to cook, you need to soak overnight and then change the water and boil for an hour or so, but you can cook up a huge batch and freeze portions for use later, or use a pressure cooker and they'll cook straight from dried in about 20 minutes. You can also buy them tinned, but this works out a bit more expensive, and they're often quite salty/sugary, so give 'em a rinse before you use them! You should try a few types to see which you prefer. I use a lot of chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans.

Try somewhere like vegweb dot com for recipe ideas.

Beans and rice, lentils (try dhal), chilli, chickpea and spinach curry are all meals that I eat quite often, as well as 'bolognese' type pasta dishes using TVP (textured vegetable protein - a mince substitute made from soy).

Tofu can be pretty tasty too, but it depends how you prepare it! I like to get firm tofu (Dunnes have started selling a pretty good one, in the veg section), slice it about 1/2 inch thick, squeeze out a bit of the water and marinade it for about an hour (in something like, lemon juice, olive oil, herbs, garlic), then bake in the oven, turning during the cooking, until 'chewy'. This is a very tasty way to eat tofu, and is great with some mash, kale and gravy for 'comfort food'! You can also try the same prep, but then cut into cubes and fry until chewy, take out of the pan, stirfry some veg and then add the tofu back in at the end.

Hope that helps!

NFH

Thanks very much, very informative

NFH

Someone said there that Quinoa aint a full protein until you mix it with another bean or lentil etc. Can someone recommend a bean or even something like quinoa that would do the trick, preferably something thats as easy to cook as quinoa, not into all this soakin over night lark, cheers.

kraggy

Can you buy quinoa in supermarkets or just health shops?

Parnassia

NFH wrote: »

Someone said there that Quinoa aint a full protein until you mix it with another bean or lentil etc. Can someone recommend a bean or even something like quinoa that would do the trick, preferably something thats as easy to cook as quinoa, not into all this soakin over night lark, cheers.

I don't think you need to worry too much about 'complete proteins' - there is an old theory of protein combininig http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_combining , but if you eat a variety of foods you should be fine. Unless you're trying to eat lots of protein for body building or something, most people get plenty of protein.

I don't eat quinoa that much, but you can use it instead of rice or pasta with any number of sauces - chilis, curries, tomato sauces etc.

If you don't want to soak beans overnight (it is a pain!) you can buy tins of beans, these are already cooked and you can just throw them into your sauce near the end. For example, you could put some cannellini or kidney beans into a basic tomato sauce to go with pasta/quinoa (just rinse canned beans and add 5 minutes before end of cooking, just to heat through).

You could also try cooking with lentils; these don't need to be soaked and cook in 1/2 hour or so.

Parnassia

kraggy wrote: »

Can you buy quinoa in supermarkets or just health shops?

I don't think I've seen it in a supermarket, but I usually shop in smaller supermarkets, so if you go to a big one you might be in luck!

kraggy

cool, thanks!

ivy tilsley

Here's one I like:

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001564.html

Easy peasy

Quinoa is already a complete protien, but you don't need to combine incomplete protiens in a single meal to benefit from them.

You can get Quinoa in Supervalu and Tesco.

headlessloon

put it into a saucepan without water or oil - just dry and leave it on the heat, stirring until it sends off smoke and starts to pop like popcorn. then cover with veg stock and cook until the stock has been absorbed. leaves it still crunchy and not slimy. also, you should try the veggie terrine in juice on georges street and ask for quinoa instead of rice. lovely stuff!

Serpentine

I love quinoa porridge esp when its creamy with soya milk & a bit of cinnamon yum Amaranth porridge is great too

biZrb

I had quinoa with maple syrup before - it was surprisingly delicious