When you are experienced in cooking you learn very quickly that certain types of food are best cooked in specific ways. This is certainly true for quinoa. Sure you can serve it as a porridge meal for breakfast. You can even bake scones with it and use it instead of rice for a curry. One of the best ways to cook it however is as a quinoa stir fry. The texture and mild flavour of quinoa lends itself ideally to this type of quinoa recipe. The beauty of it is that this is also one of the easiest methods to cook quinoa. What’s good about quinoa is how easy it is for many uses in the kitchen.
If you have no idea how to cook quinoa then you are not alone. There are many variations to cooking it and different brands can have slightly different cooking times. This has created some confusion for people wanting to cook quinoa but needing simple instructions. The first thing you always do is rinse your quinoa under a cold tap. This gets rid of any remaining bitter coating that the grains may have. You then need to precook the quinoa before including it in your recipe. You simple add one part quinoa to two parts water and bring to the boil. Then you simmer it for 12 – 15 minutes. If you are a bit unsure how to cook quinoa go for the shorter time the first time as you do not want to overcook it
When you are cooking quinoa it usually absorbs all the water during the simmering process. The grains become light and fluffy and the germ of the grain produces as small “tail”. The feel of cooked quinoa is a bit like rice but with a slight crunch. It is this “tail” that gives the pleasant crunchy feel and flavour. Before finishing you recipe you must prepare the other ingredients that are going to be included. You will find when you are cooking quinoa that it goes best with vegetables that cook quickly in a pan or wok
One of my favourite quinoa recipes is a Mexican stir fry dish that includes sweet peppers, one medium chilli pepper, fresh tomatoes, chopped celery, sliced courgette and mushroom. I usually add 10 freshly chopped Basil leaves for flavour. All I do is fry these ingredients in top quality olive oil with the cooked quinoa for 5 minutes and serve. The whole meal can be ready in twenty minutes and is nutritious and tasty. You can serve it as a complete dish on its own or as a base for meat or fish. This has become one of my favourite quinoa recipes because I can throw in ingredients that I have to hand and the quantities are not too important.
I discovered this particular quinoa recipe when I was looking to rustle up a quick meal and only had a few simple ingredients to hand. You can almost any mix of fresh vegetables and herbs in a quinoa stir fry and the end result will be excellent.
Do not be afraid to experiment with quinoa stir fry recipes. You will soon be creating a quinoa recipe of your own.
Hahaha. “Mexican Stirfry” Funny enough, In mexico they sell salsa and lime flavored raman noodles.
Being a hispannic East Asian Studies major means I’ve ended up mixing lots of asian and hispanic ingredients and cooking techniques together. (to my grandmother’s horror…) But this recipe doesn’t technically have either asian or mexican aspects. Its more italian than anything.
This cooking technique is a saute not stir fry. In a stir fry you start out cooking everything in very high heat until its 2/3 the way cooked, then add a sauce, wine, vinegar, broth or water and simmer until it thickens or evaporates and the food has finished cooking.
sweet peppers, chili peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, courgette’s, basil and olive oil are all neoclassic itallian ingredients.
Good recipe though. I love quinoa. Here is a traditional latin american recipe for it:
Quinoa Salad (Puruvian recipe)
Ingredients:
4 cups cooked quinoa
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, finely chopped
1 large or 2 small tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
¼ cup fresh mint, chopped
¼ Cup fresh lime juice
1/3 Cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ tsp ground pepper
1 tsp salt
Toss the jalapeno pepper, tomato, cucumber and mint with cooled quinoa. In a separate bowl, whisk together the lime juice, olive oil and salt and pepper until creamy. Pour over quinoa mixture and toss again.
Thanks Dolores for contributing this recipe – I will try it out tonight