Quinoa salad

Cheesy quinoa salad

For the longest time, I thought that the quinoa and couscous are similar, at least in the looks department. It was until recently that I finally decided to work with the seed that I realized that the old adage ‘ don’t judge a book by its cover’ is absolutely true.

Unlike the couscous pasta which is almost like a convenience food , cooking quinoa needs a little more work. For one, I do not rinse the couscous as I would with the quinoa. The quinoa also needs a much longer cooking time and after which it sprouts a chi-chi curly tail. 

The quinoa makes a satisfying meal without getting me all bloated up. Perhaps it has to do with the mild crunch, which makes me slow down so that I can enjoy every spoonful of it.

To make fluffy quinoa salad, keep the ratio of water to quinoa at 1.5:1. This ratio retains the seedy crunch without getting it to mushy.  It is like tofu and takes on the taste of its accompanying ingredients, so I pair it with at most 2 strong tasting ingredients to keep the taste simple. So far, it has either been roasted garlic and ham or sundried tomato and bacon. However, the cook is king and there is no reason to experiment with many other combinations for a killer recipe.

Ingredients :

1 cup quinoa.

1.5 cup of water

pinch of salt

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp roasted garlic

1/2 cup corn kernels

1/2 cup diced smoked ham

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

handful of grated cheese

Method :

Place quinoa on a fine sieve and rinse using running water .

Add water, salt and oil.

Cook , uncovered, until it boils.

Cover and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes.

Leave it to rest for another 15 minutes.

Add chopped ingredients of your choice and stir in, using a fork or chopstick.

Serve warm.