Instead of money she's got yams and cabbages

[venta]

Just when you thought I'd desisted from telling you about my lunch...

Today was my first experiment with quinoa, which I'm going to continue mispronouncing as kwin-o-a because the alternative just sounds too ridiculous for words.

Last night, I made a half-batch of Bento Lady's Quinoa with Green Peas and Dried Sausage, using garlic and herb chorizo from The Bath Pig and frozen shelled soy beans (because I don't really like peas all that much). And I turned out not to have any mustard seeds in the cupboard, so dolloped in a big spoonful of wholegrain mustard instead.

But other than that I stuck pretty faithfully to the recipe, and packed it up for lunch with the other half of my bento box full of blanched kale, Chinese cabbage and spinach with sundried tomatoes.

No picture, I'm afraid, because I'd eaten it before I thought of writing about it. Also it wasn't terribly photogenic, because the soy beans don't keep their colour as well as garden peas would, so it looked a bit old and tired.

It was very tasty, though. Quinoa doesn't have a terribly strong taste, but it does have a pleasant texture - although, once cooked, it looks very slightly as if it's in the process of hatching. It's simple and fairly quick to cook, so I think it might well feature in my life considerably more than it has done to date. Mind you, since I have an entire packet-minus-one-half-cup left in the cupboard, it's going to have to.

If cooking for the first time, be warned: it's surprisingly dense. My lunch portion today was sizeable, but was only made from about a quarter cup of the dried stuff.

Comments

[a-llusive.livejournal.com]

Quinoa is a grain I really like. The local deli has long done a salad with quinoa, sliced red peppers, dried sweet cranberries, chunks of sundried tomatom and assorted vegetables in a very light, slightly lemony, dressing. Occasionally I added toasted seeds for variation, or red pesto, or both. Recently they have messed it up for me by vastly increasing the spring onion proportion, so it is no longer polite to talk too closely to colleagues in the afternoon, then adding loads of broccoli.

The first time I ever cooked with it I undercooked it and the second overcooked it - getting the layers to show and 'uncurl' right isn't that fiddly though - I was just unfamiliar then inattentive. Couscous recipes don't always work with quinoa substituted - I think it goes better with rice salad recipes as (like rice, unlike couscous) it doesn't tend to soak up surrounding flavours.

I'm in total agreement about the pronunciation.