Question
Maria Allen
Could you explain the method(s) used for toasting quinoa? I know how you can sprinkle it over anything- should you simmer toasted quinoa when using it as the main ingredient in a dish?
Answer
Yeah, so that's actually something that a lot of people will do. Um, typically you want to, uh, you know, give the quinoa a rinse beforehand too. Um, you want to kind of, you know, strain out anything as well too, just to make sure there's no impurities in it. But, um, I usually soak it a little bit before I'm going to toast it, and that will get rid of some of the holes as well. So you can kind of separate those out with the chinois. Um, and then after you've toasted it for, or I mean after you've soaked it for about 20 minutes or so, it'll absorb a lot of that water, which is wonderful. Then you can put it into a sa tape in and just put a little bit of water into it as well. Uh, cook it on medium, uh, high heat. It shouldn't take very long, uh, 10 to 15 minutes and it'll absorb the water in there. You'll start to smell that toastiness that happens, um, with it as well. Once you start hearing that or smelling the toast, uh, kind of the, the toasted smell of that, uh, turn off your heat and remove it right away from that, then you can absolutely add it to the top of all kinds of dishes. As an added protein source, added fiber source, it's a great thing to be able to utilize now, um, that, uh, you can mix into other things too. I've seen people use it almost as like a breadcrumb. You can add it to all kinds of different meals. So, uh, easy way to be able to toast quinoa.
