Quinoa salad
Quinoa can serve as a great base for salad or as a side order. Due to a mild taste it's a very versatile grain and can be used for both savoury and sweet dishes, so whatever you feel like eating, or indeed cooking, here is an idea how to use quinoa.
Cooking time: approximately 20 minutes.
Ingredients:
1 cup of quinoa
2 cups of water
salt
Cooking instructions: Boil the water and quinoa in 2:1 ratio, with a bit of salt (amount depends on your taste - so sample the water if it is salty enough for you!). When the quinoa expands that there is no water left, leave under cover for 10 to 15 minutes. Read :) Let's move on to the fantasy part.
Ingredients (all optional):
Nuts - any you like and have (walnuts, hazelnuts, cashew, etc.)
Seeds - same as above (pumpkin, sunflower, etc.)
Dried fruit - you guessed, anything that suits your taste (cranberries, raisins, apricots).
Rocket leaves
Eggs
Preparation: The nuts, seeds and dried fruit can be added to the quinoa at the cooking stage or after. Those ingredients will be softer if boiled with the quinoa, if fried or added dried after, will have firmer texture. I like to add the dry fruit to the quinoa at the cooking stage and roast the seeds and nuts in a bit of oil and add them to the ready cooked grains.
Serve the quinoa on a bed of rocket leaves with fried eggs. Enjoy!