What do you do with quinoa?
 

I recently discovered quinoa. I found a recipe for an asian style quinoa salad that is pretty good. But I'm not sure what else to do with it besides using it in place of rice.

What sorts of things do you do with quinoa? Do you have any good recipes?

That's about it. Tabbouleh, rice substitute. But perhaps we're not very inventive.

It saves our lives during passover - my standard is a wonderful Persian stew - sauteed eggplant, chicken, onions, tomatoes - served over quinoa.

I search Yummly for ideas.
I liked Turkey and Quinoa Meatloaf
and I love almost any style of 'beans and rice' so the Quinoa and Black Beans was a given.

One of my favorite applications is quinoa patties that I dress like falafel or burgers. I also do quinoa with milk and cinnamon in the morning instead of oatmeal sometimes, just because it's so speedy.

My favorite recipe resource is epicurious; the recipe reviews are more helpful than most.

I use it in lieu of rice.

I like making stir frys with it. Add some good hot sauce and it transforms the dish.

I'll look forward to experimenting with other ideas.

Had quinoa in Jujuy a couple of years ago. Either baked or fried so it was crunchy.

I find it's a good substitute for couscous, particularly as it absorbs the tastes of dressings so well (I use rice a LOT in cooking, East Asian and Southern European styles, but don't much like using rice in salads)

Try a fish sauce based dressing like nuoc nam pha (fish sauce, lime juice, sugar & water) or a light ponzu, or go the middle eastern route with Harissa and pickled lemons.

I think we are in agreement with quinoa so far: it is an upgrade from rice nutritionally (we all like upgrades on this website!), and it will absorb sauces...but, a more subtle approach is to infuse the quinoa with a sublime broth or your favorite stock and lay off the strong sauces and accompany it with some lovely grilled or sauteed goodies. IMHO it is a perfect food. Less is more.
Cheers.

I never agreed to that statement. Particularly if you are comparing quinoa to brown rice.

On the nutrition tables quinoa seems to be much more nutritious but most of those tables are for raw quinoa. And anyone who has cooked with this grain knows that it doesn't weigh much to begin with and absorbs a lot of water when prepared for consumption. In other words, I can easily eat a hundred grams - uncooked weight - of rice but would really struggle to eat this much quinoa.

It's a great compliment to rice in our diets. But I wouldn't call it an upgrade (not unless you were desperate for more iron), just a very welcome change.

It is delicious as a breakfast grain. Either on the side with eggs. Or with raisins.

I've made a couple of tasty quinoa salads. I also made quinoa and lentils and a breakfast quinoa with cinnamon, honey, and dried fruits.

Flush it down the toilet :). Seriously, my wife makes the stuff and the smell is horrible. I'll eat most anything but quinoa turns my stomach.

Put a lil honey & cinnamon in mine for breakfast.

I cook it in chicken stock and then my green sauce which is cooked spinach, cilantro, olive oil and jalepeno's blitzed in a food processor.

Makes for a great side for a lot of dishes from salmon to carne asada.

In addition, I use it in hearty soups in place of rice or barley.

i've recently discovered quinoa as well. thanks everyone for the helpful tips on cooking with it

I mix it with oatmeal to change up the consistency.

I also made a dish one with garlic, onion, quinoa and seasoning. It was a recipe I found online.

We cook it and add a little olive oil, chili powder, fresh cilantro, some grape tomatoes, a little salt, and a poached egg to be really indulgent.

Potentially the protein is a bit far-fetched, but the first time I ate quinoa was unfortunately not long ago. I was in Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, and the day's driver just prepared a simple yet lovely lightly-salted quinoa with tomatoes and cucumbers, a farmer's cheese and alpaca. No need to doctor up the grain, this combination (any steak'd do just fine) was down-to-earth pleasant.

There's a Heston Blumenthal book where he gives instructions on soaking and cooking quinoa with the handy trick of blending half of the cooked quinoa and recombining the grains and adding a ponzu type dressing.
The advantage is that this makes quinoa sticky and it can then be used to make makizushi seaweed rolls.
I find the technique of blitzing a portion of quinoa with a stick blender to be very useful as it helps young children keep quinoa on their fork - at least it allows me to feed my kid quinoa that isn't kept together with mashed avocado without having to pick up seeds from unexpected corners days afterwards.

^ oh yes. I agree. Better still - don't even cook it in the first place!! :)

Quinoa is a great addition to your food with a much more complete protein profile. It contains the same number of carbs as the same quantity of white or brown rice but sightly more fiber content. Many US people have not heard about quinoa but it has been around South America for about 5000 years. Some people think it is a grain but its a seed has a pellet like appearance with a slightly crunchy texture and a nutty flavor. Quinoa is cooked similar to rice and once cooked, you can add it in any of your recipes that call for rice or it also makes a nice side dish all alone. You can use quinoa in many pilaf dishes, adding vegetables, and seasonings to taste.

I recently found some baby food with chicken, vegetables and quinos. My almost 9 month old is in agreement with you.

Here is a great little recipe my wife makes...

http://www.veggiebelly.com/2010/07/b...noa-salad.html

Hope that you like it!