Quinoa

This is our new discovery, a pseudo-cereal that goes by the name of quinoa. The Incas referred to it as 'the mother of all grains', and it was a very important source of nourishment for many centuries. For some reason, pleople have rediscovered it recently, and its nutricional qualities have been touted especially by vegetarians.

Gastronomically speaking, its flavour is delicate yet nutty. The texture is very particular - perhaps a bit chewy. It does fill you up, but you do not feel bloated. I guess it's hard to describe, we can only say it's totally worth to try it at least once.

The web is full of "quinoa and black bean salad" recipes, so what we did for our first meal featuring quinoa was to read a few of those for inspiration. What we have actually done:

- 1 cup of quinoa, thoroughly washed in cold water and rinsed
- 2 cups of water
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 cup each of canned black beans and corn, washed and rinsed
- 1 tsp of ground cumin
- 1 tsp of cayene pepper
- 3 tbsp of chopped coriander
- juice of one lime
- olive oil and salt

Sautee the onion and garlic in a sauce pan that has a tight fitting lid with a splash of olive oil. When the onion is soft, add the cumin and pepper. Fry for a few seconds, until fragant. Add the quinoa, mix well. Add the water, season with salt, and bring to a boil. Close the lid, turn the heat to low, and cook for 15 minutes. The liquid should all be absorbed by then. Turn off the heat. Stir in the beans and corn, and wait a few minutes until they are heated through.

In a large bowl, mix a few tbsp of olive oil with the lime juice to make a sort of vinagrette. Mix in the quinoa mixture, stir in the coriander, and check for salt and olive oil. We had it warm with wilted spinash that was briefly sauteed in garlicky olive oil, but it's supposedly very good chilled.

Here's a nice picture of the final result: