Quinoa, a super pseudo-cereal to add to your meals

To vary the week's meals, quinoa is without a doubt the perfect ingredient! It is cooked like rice and is integrated with a lot of recipes (soups, salads, in a stuffing, croquette, etc.). Through these lines, you will learn more about its nutritional values ??and why we love it so much. We explain to you how to cook it to benefit from its flavors to the maximum and above all, we propose you several ideas of recipes to try!

What is quinoa?
Quinoa is a native seed of the Andes, mainly from Peru and Bolivia. Rich in protein , fiber, iron and magnesium, quinoa contains no gluten , which is great news for people who are intolerant to this ingredient. In addition, this super pseudo-cereal contains the 9 amino acids essential to human life. All these properties make quinoa a perfect food to help treat type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

White, red and black: the 3 kinds of quinoa
Tender and fluffy, white quinoa is the most available variety on the market and cooks faster than other types. The red quinoa is itself firmer and sags less during cooking. Black quinoa , on the other hand, is very similar to red for its nutritional value, but is much less accessible on the market. Which one to choose? If you have a hard time making up your mind, go for a tasty mix of all three ! A good compromise that creates very colorful salads!

How to cook quinoa, step by step

Cooking quinoa is not rocket science! The process is simple and similar to that for cooking rice. By following the steps below, you can not go wrong.

Rinse the quinoa until the resulting water is clear. To do this, use a "Chinese" type strainer so that the grains do not pass through an ordinary pasta strainer.

In a saucepan, put 1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of liquid (water with a pinch of salt OR two cups of chicken broth or vegetables). To add more flavor, coat the quinoa in hot oil at the bottom of the pan before adding the liquid (optional).
 
Bring to a boil and reduce on low heat for 10 to 15 minutes for white quinoa, 20 to 25 minutes for red quinoa. When you see the membrane around it come off, it is cooked to perfection!

In which recipes to integrate it

As hot as it is cold, quinoa is part of an impressive variety of recipes. Whether as a base for a salad, a little like a couscous, added to a green salad, croquette or stuffing, quinoa can take any form! Here are some suggestions to inspire you:

Quinoa salad and grilled vegetables
Crab fritters with quinoa
Chicken broth with noodles and quinoa
Grilled onion stuffed with quinoa salad