My Favourite Quinoa recipe - Quinoa Stir Fry
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.
