Quinoa: gluten-free super food!

quinoa for breakfast with raisins, walnuts, brown sugar and garam masala

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa), is a complete protein grain that hails from the Andes in South America. It is considered a super-food because of it's exceptional balance of amino acids, vitamins and minerals. I eat it because I like it, and it makes a nice change from rice, or buckwheat as a morning breakfast cereal. In the the summer my preferred way to enjoy quinoa is in place of cous cous (which is cracked wheat - and NOT gf) in a tabuleh salad (typically includes parsley, tomatoes & cucumbers and mint). I'm not making that today as tomatoes and cucumbers are far from in season here in Canada... but we will eat plenty of it come summer (Bill won't pick out the cucumbers if I cut them small enough).

Cooking instructions are really easy: add 1 cup quinoa (rinse it thoroughly in a sieve) to 2 cups water with a pinch of salt.Bring to a rolling boil, then cover and let simmer on low for about 15 minutes or until all of the water has been absorbed.

Fluff with a fork and treat it like any other grain, varying spices to fit the dish. Please do share your favourite way to enjoy quinoa in the comments!