Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Grain of the Month (GOTM) - Quinoa...yay!!

There are a lot of different grains out there that I don’t really have any experience cooking with such as quinoa, couscous, barely and amaranth. I have always wanted to branch out and try some recipes made with these, but often get a little intimidated or have a hard time picking a recipe. To help me branch out and try some of these recipes I am going to start “Grain of the Month” aka GOTM. Each month I am going to pick a new grain to try and then about each week or so make a different recipe involving that grain. This way I can try a few different recipes and get experiment with the different ways the grain can be cooked and enjoyed. Yum!

For the month of July, I choose quinoa. I have read so many things about this grain being super healthy and very versatile. Not only is it high in protein, but is also contains all essential amino acids, making it a great food source for vegetarians. It’s hard to believe that after all these years I’ve never gotten around to cooking with. There are so many recipes online that it is hard to choose one! Last week I made a recipe for Quinoa with Sesame Tofu that I found on the CookingLight website. Unfortunately, my first attempt at cooking with quinoa wasn’t a super success. I think I must have had the heat a little too high while I was simmering the quinoa and I kind of burned the bottom. Oops! I was going to throw it out and try the recipe again another night, but it was already 9pm and I didn’t have anything else to eat to go with the tofu I had cooked so I went ahead and finished up the dish. It actually wasn’t too bad and I really enjoyed the flavor. I didn’t find that the recipe had enough of a sauce (especially to mask the slightly over-toastiness of the quinoa) so I added a splash of toasted sesame oil and a little seasoned rice vinegar in addition to the soy sauce which helped a lot. The tofu turned out very yummy and went really well with nutty taste of the quinoa. I can’t wait to try another recipe!

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