Quinoa

I've struggled all my life to lose weight or to maintain a healthy weight.  It doesn't help that I'm Bangladeshi - our staple diet consists of rice & curry twice a day! I used to manage about a week without rice & curry followed by a 'crash-and-burn' few days of eating plate upon plate of mum's cooking!

But that was all before quinoa came into my life! Since then, I've substituted rice with a plate of quinoa, which means that I don't feel left out during those important family get-togethers. And very few 'crash-and-burn' episodes! I've managed to keep my weight fairly stable for almost four years and have to say - quinoa and exercise have played a major part in that success.

There's plenty of information out there about quinoa, as well as delicious recipes for you to try.  For now, here are the basics on how to cook plain quinoa.

Plain Quinoa

Serves: 4

Prep/Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa (washed & drained)

2 cups water

Preparation:

1. Boil water in a saucepan.  Once water has boiled, reduce heat to medium flame/setting and add the quinoa.  Stir well to ensure very few are floating at the top.

2. The quinoa will increase in size and become partly transparent.  Cook until water evaporates (approx 15 minutes depending on your cooker setting).

    

3. Once water evaporates; stir, cover and transfer the saucepan to the smallest hob on lowest flame.  If using an electric cooker, turning off the cooker will suffice (no need to transfer).

4. Stir every minute for approx 5 minutes to let the steam work through the grains evenly.

5. Turn off cooker, if still on.

Some like their quinoa on the crunchy side, some (like me) like theirs well cooked and soft. Once you've cooked it a few times you'll get to know how much heat to apply and timings when cooking quinoa.

Enjoy hot with a curry or add cold quinoa to a salad recipe.

Next time, you may want to experiment and add stock/spices for a little flavour!