Home > On The Road > Quinoa- Ancient grain of the Inca
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is a relative of beets and saltbush. It contains more protein than any other grain -an average of 16.2 percent, compared with 7.5 percent for rice, 9.9 percent for millet, and 10 percent for wheat.
Quinoa's protein is of an unusually high quality. It is a complete protein, with an essential amino acid balance close to the ideal. Quinoa's protein is high in lysine, methionine and cystine. This makes it an excellent food to combine with, and boost the protein value of, other grains (which are low in lysine), or soy (which is low in methionine and cystine).
Besides its unique protein, quinoa also provides starch, sugars, oil (high in essential linoleic acid), fiber, minerals (especially potassium, phosphorus, iron, and calcium) and vitamins.
It is completely gluten free.
It has a low glycemic index of 35
Quinoa is light, tasty, and easy to digest. It is not sticky or heavy like most other grains, and it has a delicious flavor all its own.
Quinoa can be substituted for almost any grain in any recipe. It looks and tastes great on its own, or in any dish from soup to salad. Use it instead of rice with stir fries, instead of barley in soups, instead of burghul in tabooli, instead of oats in porridge, and almost anywhere else you need a cooked grain.
This quinoa is grown at 3800 metres in the Andes and its slow growth gives the largest grain size and highest protein content. Lower altitude quinoa has many imperfect hard grains and lower nutritional value. It is produced by a farming cooperative and bought at a fair trading price.
As the mother goddess of the Inca religion quinoa was long suppressed by the Spaniards but with the renewal of the Inca culture and the discovery of its nutritional value it is having a strong revival.
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
1 cup quinoa
2 cups liquid
Bring to boil and simmer for 12-15 minutes
All liquid should be absorbed
Alternatively- bring to the boil, take off heat and leave for 15 minutes
Use water when using quinoa as a replacement for boiled rice or when strong flavours are to be added – with curries or in tabouli.
Use a stock (fish , chicken, vegetable etc) instead of water if the quinoa is to be used with mild flavours such as in a salad , kedgeree , stuffing
Use coconut milk instead of water to make a rich dessert base – puddings, cakes etc
Recipes:
www.chef2chef.com has 150 quinoa recipes
Wkipedia has a good article with photos of the plant and references http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa
John Talent Global Organics Pty Ltd, Canberra, Australia