1 cup of quinoa
2 cups of water or chicken broth
For added seasoning optional: Garlic, ginger, and/or olena (turmeric)

I am a fan of quinoa; pronounced kin wah like the Chinese restaurant in Kaneohe. It is really great for you and a great substitute for rice. Essentially you want the quinoa to water ratio to be one to two. Sometimes I like mine a little drier so I go with a 1:1.5 ratio.  For added flavor I sometimes  I will cook it in chicken broth and/or add grated ginger, garlic, and sometimes olena (turmeric).

There’s two ways that I have heard of cooking quinoa. One way is in your rice cooker, just like rice. Make sure you rinse the quinoa.

The other way, which is the way I often cook quinoa, is on the stovetop since I like to add a lot of aromatics. I place the water and quinoa in the pot bring it to a boil covered and then turn down the heat to medium and let it simmer until the water evaporates,which is usually about ten minutes. You will notice little holes in the quinoa that you can kind of see in the photo above. If it’s difficult to tell if the water has evaporated then give the pot a little jiggle and if doesn’t move too much you are good to go. Turn off the heat and let it sit for another five minutes or so.

There’s many ways to eat quinoa. I use the quinoa as a rice substitute and prefer it over brown rice. It even works well as fried rice; jook not so much (no I did not try to make quinoa jook).  I have also made some ono cold quinoa salads and even fillers for burritos!  Don’t worry you will see these recipes soon!!