Quinoa success at last... the secret!

I've blogged a few times about my dislike of the taste of quinoa, mitigated only by dousing the stuff in lots of spices.

I finally learned the reason for my dislike. At a recent church potluck, a friend made a quinoa dish. I tried it, like I always do (since quinoa is supposed to be good for you!) -- and loved it!

I asked what she did to make it taste so good. Her answer: it really doesn't matter what you add to quinoa; that's a matter of choice. What counts is what you do before you cook it. You have to wash quinoa really well, because it's coated with a bitter substance called saponin that protects the grain from insects and fungi.

And washing really well is the key, because I had rinsed my quinoa in the past prior to cooking it. But it really needs to be washed out several times, until the water you rinse it in remains clear. This web site gives a few ideas for washing quinoa.

So I made some quinoa today, after rinsing the stuff for about 5 minutes. Wow, what a difference! I sauteed some veggies, made a sauce of lemon juice, curry, garlic and sea salt, and mixed it all together with the quinoa. Good stuff!

P.S. I will come back to my post about recycled paper soon!