First Taste of Quinoa
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011 02:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forchancookieMom took a month long vacation in Rhode Island and I was left with some interesting ingredients in the fridge. I've yet to touch the fennel bulb. I hate fennel seeds and fennel bulbs are supposed to have a licorice-y flavor, which I also do not like. It may well go bad before I attempt to use it. The quinoa on the other hand piqued my interest. It's like a grain, but it isn't. It's seeds.
I poked at various recipes and finally decided upon this one, Quinoa and Black Beans. It had good ratings and a lot of rave reviews. I didn't follow it completely, so I'll just put up my little version here. A lot of reviewers noted that two cans of black beans was too much and I only had one can anyway.
Quinoa and Black Beans
Ingredients
* 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
* 1/4 onion, chopped
* 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
* 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
* 1 1/2 cups broth (chicken or veggie)
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
Directions
1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.
3. Mix in the black beans, serve when beans are heated.
Notes:
I scrapped quite a bit from the original recipe. Most of the onion, but mostly because I loathe chopping onions XD The cilantro, because I didn't have any and I don't like it. It smells like dirty rags to me. The corn also went bye bye because I didn't have any. I didn't feel like it took away from the dish. I'm not sure what it will add to it. I'm wary of corn sometimes with it's odd burst of sweetness to a dish where I'm not sure it's needed. I might try it next time though.
Anyway, the recipe was really easy. It came together fast, faster than the suggested cooking time even. I didn't even cook mine for the full twenty minutes. It had absorbed all the liquid by the fifteen minute mark, possible because I used a larger pan than called for.
I was wary of all that cumin! First of all cumin instantly equals tacos in my mind. There is no way I can separate the scent/flavor of cumin from tacos or other assorted Mexican food. Perhaps this is why I mixed up a margarita to accompany this XD You could go lighter on the cumin and cayenne. It seems spicier when it's hot than when it cools off later.
So, what was my first encounter with quinoa like? Interesting. And not in a bad way. It cooked easily and quickly for one thing. While I'd seen it compared to couscous, I wouldn't really go there. After all, it is a seed. So the texture it like eating seeds. When I took my first bite, aside from the spicy salty flavor from my spices, I noted that it was like getting a mouth full of eggplant seeds, only far more pleasant. I like eggplants and their seeds, but some of them are bitter, not so with the quinoa. Though I read that sometimes it needs to be rinsed/soaked ahead of times to deal with bitterness, I didn't do that and had no bitterness.
All in all, I think it's a good introduction to this interesting ingredient. :D
I poked at various recipes and finally decided upon this one, Quinoa and Black Beans. It had good ratings and a lot of rave reviews. I didn't follow it completely, so I'll just put up my little version here. A lot of reviewers noted that two cans of black beans was too much and I only had one can anyway.
Quinoa and Black Beans
Ingredients
* 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
* 1/4 onion, chopped
* 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
* 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
* 1 1/2 cups broth (chicken or veggie)
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
Directions
1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.
3. Mix in the black beans, serve when beans are heated.
Notes:
I scrapped quite a bit from the original recipe. Most of the onion, but mostly because I loathe chopping onions XD The cilantro, because I didn't have any and I don't like it. It smells like dirty rags to me. The corn also went bye bye because I didn't have any. I didn't feel like it took away from the dish. I'm not sure what it will add to it. I'm wary of corn sometimes with it's odd burst of sweetness to a dish where I'm not sure it's needed. I might try it next time though.
Anyway, the recipe was really easy. It came together fast, faster than the suggested cooking time even. I didn't even cook mine for the full twenty minutes. It had absorbed all the liquid by the fifteen minute mark, possible because I used a larger pan than called for.
I was wary of all that cumin! First of all cumin instantly equals tacos in my mind. There is no way I can separate the scent/flavor of cumin from tacos or other assorted Mexican food. Perhaps this is why I mixed up a margarita to accompany this XD You could go lighter on the cumin and cayenne. It seems spicier when it's hot than when it cools off later.
So, what was my first encounter with quinoa like? Interesting. And not in a bad way. It cooked easily and quickly for one thing. While I'd seen it compared to couscous, I wouldn't really go there. After all, it is a seed. So the texture it like eating seeds. When I took my first bite, aside from the spicy salty flavor from my spices, I noted that it was like getting a mouth full of eggplant seeds, only far more pleasant. I like eggplants and their seeds, but some of them are bitter, not so with the quinoa. Though I read that sometimes it needs to be rinsed/soaked ahead of times to deal with bitterness, I didn't do that and had no bitterness.
All in all, I think it's a good introduction to this interesting ingredient. :D
