You shouldn’t make these 5 mistakes if you want delicious quinoa
‘Quinoa’… What do you think when you read that? Delicious? Or incredibly boring? As a side dish or meal base, it causes quite a bit of division, with haters on one side and loyal believers on the other. And there are also some neutrals in between, of course (moi). But suppose you really love putting it on the table—then read here which common mistakes you should avoid!
I don’t make it very often anymore since a child declared that she really didn’t like the “guinea pig” after all. But even if you do like quinoa—or even like it very much—you’re probably not a fan of the mushy, sticky, sometimes bitter mess it becomes when prepared incorrectly. So learn from these five mistakes and see how you can prevent them:
Not rinsing the quinoa
Mistake, mistake, mistake. You might get away with not always rinsing your rice (though it’s better to do so), but you really need to hold quinoa under cold running water in a very fine-mesh sieve for at least thirty seconds and keep swirling it around a little with your fingers. The coating around it tastes dusty and bitter if you don’t, so if you don’t enjoy licking a brick either, don’t skip this step out of laziness. And once again, make sure it’s a really fine-mesh sieve, because those little things (the grains) are tiny!
Following the instructions
You can follow mine (which are more like suggestions), but I generally don’t think the water-to-quinoa ratio on the package is the best. Use 1 cup of quinoa (filled to the brim) and 1.5 cups plus one tablespoon of water. Put the cold water and quinoa in the pan, then bring it to a boil.
Not seasoning the cooking liquid
You salt your pasta water, don’t you?! Whoa, definitely don’t add that much salt to your quinoa water. But unsalted quinoa is indeed boring and bland, so add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt or a quarter of a stock cube. You can give the flavor department an even bigger boost by adding some robust herbs such as bay leaf or rosemary, along with a crushed garlic clove. You’ll fish them all out again later.
You want to fuss with it constantly
Just let it be! Once everything is seasoned and has come to a boil, turn the heat back down low and put the lid on the pan. Set a timer for 15 minutes and walk away for a bit, agreed? Do not keep lifting the lid and peeking, because then it won’t cook evenly and will take even longer. If you absolutely have to keep an eye on it, use a glass lid so you can still look in. Which is pretty boring, so just go do something else.
And then you forget the steaming time
The quinoa is virtually cooked when a cheerful little curl has emerged from each grain (that sounds less disgusting than it is) and all the liquid has been absorbed. Then turn off the heat and be patient for just a little longer, because steaming for the last few minutes in the pan with the lid on makes it completely soft and fluffy, while the last bit of liquid at the bottom of the pan evaporates. Pro tip: fluff it briefly with a fork before steaming, then wedge a sheet of paper towel between the rim of the pan and the lid. This catches condensation droplets so they don’t drip back into the pan and make your quinoa wet again. And from here on, feel free to riff! Think quinoa with warm chorizo, shrimp and tomato, or cook it along with a hearty chicken soup… In any case, you can definitely make something of it—good luck!
Read also:
- 6 reasons why you should quit quinoa
- Recipe: bratwurst with sweet potato, quinoa and spinach
- Pronouncing food hypercorrectly
Source: the Kitchn
