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Quinoa and Roasted Pepper Salad
March 5, 2010 | 21 Comments
Quinoa/Quinua is one of the three pseudograins (the others are buckwheat and amaranth) that feature frequently at our table. “Pseudo” because it’s a seed rather than a grain. It cooks up to a fluffy texture and a delicious nutty flavour. We prepare it quite often and since it tastes equally good warm or at room temperature, it makes a perfect lunchbox candidate.
Quinoa can be used in recipes the same way you would use rice, couscous or cornmeal. The texture is like upma, but much better, and so is the taste. (Admittedly, Bee the upma-hater is biased.) Unlike semolina used for upma, it’s whole, not refined.
Quinoa has been classified as a “super-crop” by the United Nations and by NASA. (Link) It contains more protein than any other grain; an average of 16.2 percent, compared with 7.5 percent for rice, 9.9 percent for millet, and 14 percent for wheat.
The protein it supplies is complete protein, meaning that it includes all the essential amino acids in a highly digestible form. (Link) Quinoa is an excellent food to combine with, and boost the protein value of, other grains like wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), or soy (which is low in methionine and cystine). Quinoa is also an excellent source of manganese, magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus. (Nutritional data)
Bonus: it’s gluten-free and has a low glycemic index.
Macro shot of uncooked quinoa seed Wikimedia Commons
Cooked quinoa looks like a miniature condom. (I’m not the only one who thinks so.) It has an unusually large and nutrient-rich germ that unfurls into a ring at the rim while cooking.
Quinoa is an old world grain whose methods of cultivation haven’t changed much since six thousand years ago. That’s probably why most quinoa sold today – in various shades of cream, red and black – is organic.
In 1532, Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish explorer, reached the Andes with a small army of 158 men, and in one year’s time destroyed the quinoa fields, killed the god-king, and forced the Inca culture into submission. The daily lives of the Incas had revolved around the growing, harvesting, eating, and honoring of quinoa. Under Pizarro’s rule they were forbidden to practice their ceremonial rituals that centered on quinoa. Now Catholicism and potatoes dominated their world that began to exhibit many cases of malnutrition and high infant mortality.
The Spaniards introduced wheat and barley, but the Incas did not favor these. Fortunately, quinoa still grew wild in the higher altitudes where it could be hidden from the Spaniards. Small amounts were consumed in secret. Still, the culture of the Incas had been changed forever. For centuries quinoa fell into obscurity until the revival of interest in the 1970′s…
Thriving at high elevations of 10,000 feet and higher, quinoa finds drought ideal, loves hot sun as well as sub-freezing temperatures, and prefers soil that is sandy, alkaline and considered poor for growing any other food crops. Quinoa is not hybridized nor is it genetically engineered, rather it remains as pure and wholesome as it was when the Incas embraced it in their ceremonial rituals. The natural home of quinoa is the area between Southern Colombia to Northwest Argentina and Northern Chile.
The extremely thin air at the high Andean altitudes allows more of the sun’s radiation to affect plants growing in high elevations. Quinoa has adapted perfectly with calcium oxalate crystals contained within its leaves that permit the plant to retain adequate moisture.
The average altiplano rainfall of about 10″ occurs in the spring. Bolivia experienced two years of severe drought in the early1980s and lost a large percentage of its crops of potatoes, barley, vegetables, fruits, and wheat. Quinoa not only survived the drought, but actually produced larger than normal crops during that period with less than 3 1/2″ of rain. (Link)
Quinoa Plant (Wikimedia Commons)
COOKING WITH QUINOA
You can buy quinoa as grains, processed into flakes or made into polenta. We just buy the big bag of whole organic quinoa at Costco. The seeds have essential fatty acids and go rancid if kept for too long, so we store ours in the fridge.
The first time we cooked it, it turned into a sticky mess. You can get perfect non-sticky quinoa if you keep these steps in mind.
**Quinoa seeds must be rinsed well before cooking to remove their bitter resin-like coating, which is called saponin.
Quinoa is rinsed before it is packaged and sold, but it is best to rinse again at home before use to remove any of the powdery residue that may remain on the seeds. The presence of saponin is obvious by the production of a soapy looking “suds” when the seeds are swished in water. Placing quinoa in a strainer and rinsing thoroughly with water easily washes the saponin from the seeds. In South America the saponin which is removed from the quinoa is used as detergent for washing clothes and as an antiseptic to promote healing of skin injuries. (Link)
Some brands like Ancient Harvest come pre-rinsed. Since it’s organic and I need the quinoa to be dry for toasting, I don’t bother to rinse it. Test what you buy by taking a teaspoon or two and swishing it in water. If it feels too “soapy”, rinse the batch well in water, strain through a fine mesh or muslin cloth and toast on medium heat for around 15 minutes until golden brown and dry. (Like this.) A few may start popping. Cool and store in the fridge.
**Toast the quinoa in a dry pan or with a bit of olive oil until it starts to brown a bit. It adds a lot of flavour. You can pop quinoa like corn and add it to energy bars or take it with you on hiking trips as a snack.
BASIC QUINOA
Stovetop method:
1 cup quinoa (any colour)
Rinse the quinoa if you need to and use it straight away, or toast it in a dry pan or with some olive oil on medium heat until the seeds turn a shade or two darker.
Add
1.5 cups room temperature liquid,
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil,
salt to taste
and bring to a boil. Then turn the heat to the lowest setting and cover tightly. Cook for 18 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit for another 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.
Liquid here could be anything – plain water, pureed carrots mixed with water, stock, water with dried mushrooms, bouillon, or tomato sauce, any flavourings and/or salt to taste. .
If using sour ingredients like tomatoes, cook the quinoa with the other flavourings and add the tomatoes five minutes from the end. It may even take slightly longer. Whatever you add the proportion of liquid to quinoa is 1.5 to 1. If you use the pressure cooker method (which is what we use), you can add the tomato puree/sauce at the beginning.
Pressure Cooker method:
1 cup quinoa, 1 cup liquid with or without flavourings, 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil, salt to taste.
Do not put the quinoa directly in the cooker. Add 2 to 3 cups water to the main pressure cooker container, then put the pan it with the quinoa and liquid. Cover the pan. Put the pressure cooker lid on and cook to one whistle. Turn the heat off, open when cool and fluff with a fork.
Sprouted quinoa in the microwave:
You can cook unsprouted quinoa in the microwave, but I haven’t tried it. I only try the microwave method with sprouted quinoa. First sprout 1 cup quinoa. (Like this.)
Then add a couple tablespoons of liquid/flavourings and microwave on HIGH covered for 3 minutes. Let it sit for a few minutes and fluff it with a fork.
QUINOA AND ROASTED PEPPER SALAD
First, drain and marinate a handful of Tunisian olives with
chilli flakes
cinnamon
bay leaf
or buy marinated olives at your local deli.
Cook 1 cup quinoa in the pressure cooker with
1 cup water
1 clove chopped garlic
1/2 tsp dried thyme
some salt,
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp organic tomato paste
Fluff with a fork.
Meanwhile roast 2 yellow and 2 red peppers (like this).
Peel and chop the peppers and add them to the quinoa with the olives (after removing the bay leaf).
Also add
a handful of chopped parsley
some grated organic lemon zest
a handful of cranberries
some toasted almonds
some chopped spring onions
Add
salt,
pepper,
chilli flakes,
grated ginger,
some extra virgin olive oil
lemon juice
Toss and serve at room temperature.
It is outrageously good drizzled with Smoked Olive Oil. Cynthe sent it to us a few months ago. Smoked Olive Oil is especially good as a dip with crusty bread.
- b.
Our entry for Jihva for Breakfast @ Veggie Platter.
Our dear friend Jeanne at CookSister has organised a raffle for H2Ope for Haiti – an effort to privide clean drinking water and purification tablets to the people of Haiti.
You can participate by going to THIS PAGE and checking out the fabulous list of raffle prizes donated by bloggers from around the world. Select the one you like.
The cost of each raffle ticket is approx US$10, GBP6.50, AU$11. Follow the instructions on that page and make your bid. All information about the raffle is available at CookSister.
The raffle runs upto March 7, 2010. You can buy one ticket or several.
We are offering
660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer
It’s our favourite cookbook. See the review HERE with a SIGNED bookplate by the author.
PRIZE CODE: HFH17
Thank you for your support.
- Bee (and Jai)
Filed Under: Almond, calcium, Cranberry, Garlic, Ginger, H2Ope for Haiti, Lemon/Lime, olive oil, Parsley, protein, Quinoa, roasted-red-pepper, smoked olive oil, Spring-Onions/Scallions, vegan recipes, vegetarian recipes
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21 Comments
Never had quinoa and never knew about smoked olive oil.
LOVE Quinoa! couldn’t live without it. However from now on I will be thinking condom when I eat ‘em.. You are something:)
That smoked olive oil is something I would love to have.
What a terrific and interesting post! We love quinoa, and now it seems even more beneficial (and beautiful).
I cooked once with quinoa but was a big mess. This one is more elegant!
I cooked quinoa once and was pleased; however, I promptly forgot about it. Your post is so informative and you make it look so beautiful that I will have to revisit the possibility of using it again, especially in lieu of rice.
Wonderfully done – you have taken all the “strange” out of a supergrain and introed an intriguing new product. We have local olive oil here in Texas now (we’ve got wine and lavender as well – ours is a variant on the Mediterranean climate after all), but I too had never heard of smoked olive oil. It sounds amazing – around these parts we tend to smoke foods quite a bit – can’t believe news of this one comes from the frozen North!
Have a lovely weekend Jai/Bee!
Quinoa is probably my favorite grain (seed)! Wonderful post and 660 curries is a trusted book! It is sitting on my desk just now. Beautiful images as usual!
Thanks for the reminder to donate.
I love Quinoa and It’s wonderful to read more about it and new ways to cook it.
I don’ think its available in India. But very much interested after reading about it in several blogs. I recently bought a bag of “thinai arisi”. Don’t know the English name…can u help me? I am searching for recipes as we couldn’t make anything beyond (“Thenum thinai maavum”)
Thinai is a Foxtail Millet.
http://millets.wordpress.com/millets/
Tenai/Samai as upma are the best. Similar to above recipe.
Now, I make Ragi/Bajra as dosas, being smaller grains, I like them better that way.
Quinoa dosas are the second best for me! the first being Samba-Godumai Dosas. Keeen-wah-wah!
Thanks Anu!
Bee, nice pics… loved the recipe too…. Can I know if these grains are good for Diabetic people?…
Perfect salad and beautiful shots!
Love that healthy, fluffy quinoa salad, Bee.
My daughter loves olives and she would be after me if she gets to see this picture.
BTW, I am a upma lover.
OMG! I wanted to comment about that cooked quinoa comparision but couldn’t get hold of those smilies.
Thanks for partcipating, B & J.
I’ve tasted quinoa quite a few times but never knew it contains more protein. Lovely clicks.
Miniature condoms?! eek!
I adore quinoa, too!
What a co-incidence. I just bought a big bag of Organic quinoa yday in Costco and here I read this post. I’ve never cooked quinoa in the past but read a lot about its health benefits. Will try this salad soon.
Thanks for all the info on quinoa! I’s something I haven’t explored enough although already love it!
Those photographs of the Quinoa and Roasted Pepper Salad are stunning! I have never had Quinoa, will look it up in the supermarket and try out your recipe.
Back home (India) Quinoa is not used in seed form but it is considered a weed & is consumed like spinach.
Botanical Name is Chenopodium album.
In Sanskrit it is called vastukah, Hindi -Bathua, in Bangla – Beto Sag, Gujarati – Chilni bhaji, Kannada – Sakothina soppu, Marathi – Chandan bathua, in Oriya – bathua saga & in Tamil-paruppukirai.
Here is a link to check
http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Bathua.html
I like the sauteed version of Bathua with chana dal
Is quinoa available in India? Specifically in the south, ie Bangalore? Please enlighten. Loved the post btw.