Cooking the Perfect Quinoa

Once you've mastered this  technique--which is pretty easy--you'll be making Quinoa weekly,

I DO!

The KEY trick for making any kind of quinoa recipe (for breakfast foods, soups, etc.)  is to wash it THOROUGHLY! Now, I don't mean throw it in a bowl and swirl it around a few times, I'm talking three really good washes. 

Why?
 1) Washing gets rid of the bitter taste that comes from the seeds shell. Who knows why, but it's there, but it's also wash-away-able. 
2) The seed can absorb some the water and help make it nice and fluffy later. 

So get your quinoa and let's begin. 

• Grab a large enough bowl to hold your desired amount quinoa (I generally cook about a cup of dry=~2 1/2 cups cooked) large enough to fully submerge the quinoa in water. 

• Dump your dry quinoa in the bowl and fill with wamish water. 

• Now reach your hands into that bowl and start playing with it. Move it around, swish it, rub the seeds between your fingers (obviously this is the best/most fun part).

• Once the water is pretty murky, dump the water and fill it up again. Repeat washing process. Repeat a 3rd time.

• The water should get less and less murky every wash--but not completely clear--this is okay. 3 times usually does the trick for the bitter part. 

• Now bring a small sauce pan full of your liquid of choice to a boil (water for versatility, Milk generally for breakfast recipes, broths for fillers--I always cook my in a chicken or veggie broth)

• Dump washed and drained quinoa into the heated liquid and stir for about 2 min on boil. 

• Now reduce Heat to Low and simmer covered for 20 min. Quinoa will expand, peel a little (the little white squiggles), and absorb the liquid as the time goes by. Feel free to stir every once in awhile. 

•  After timer goes off, fluff away by stirring it! 

Now you have an awesome batch of yummy quinoa ready for your adventurous recipes. 

ENJOY!!!!