Food, food culture, food as culture and the cultures that grow our food

It was an accident

June 29, 2005

Puffed quinoa is delicious and has a surprising texture. I heated it in an a lightly oild pan but a paint stripper will do a better job in the future. The plan was a chapati with a puffed quinoa ‘layer’. That plan still needs a bit of work and I’m hoping that Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking will help me sort out the differences between quinoa, sorghum and millet, water absorbtion, and the gelatinization of starch.

debra at 23:41 | | post to del.icio.us

5 Comments »

  1. No idea what “Puffed quinoa” actually is but it sure looks great!

    Comment by Kristi van Riet — June 30, 2005 @ 14:56

  2. Quinoa is an ancient grain from the Americas. Do not ask me yet if it is the same as sorghum - because I haven’t been able to find this out yet.

    I tried to ‘puff’ it like popcorn. Heat up the seed until it explodes. It worked. Woo hoo.

    Comment by debra — June 30, 2005 @ 21:48

  3. Kristi here in Caracas, Venezuela we have a big colony of people from Peru, some of them run a street market on sundays, they have a product imported from Peru called “quinoa pop” or someting like that and is an industrial product,i try this some time ago and is a delicious thing.
    Anoter way to cook quinoa is like a risoto and is veri good too.

    Comment by Alejandro Fernandez — July 6, 2005 @ 19:36

  4. i love quinoa,
    i love to cook it , dry it out in a oven or dehydrator very well.
    then fry it in very hot oil 475
    very quickly, 3-5 seconds
    drain well ,
    i mix it with fennel pollen ,dried ground orange peel , pepper and chopped fresh cilantro ,as a cruchy salsa for poached fish

    Comment by chefjameso — August 21, 2007 @ 3:43

  5. To the best of my knowledge, although I cannot source it, quinoa and and sorghum are very different. I am allergic to wheat, and I also react to sorghum, because of it’s genetic similarities to wheat. Quinoa on the other hand is an ancient grain, is gluten free, and is a source of complete protein, i.e., whereas the protein in many beans cannot be extracted well in human digestion unless they eaten with a rice or grain, the protein in quinoa can be easily digested and used by the human body.

    Comment by Melanie — January 8, 2008 @ 3:08


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