Quinoa for Breakfast?

First of all, you may ask, what is quinoa? Or you may not as it is becoming increasingly common. For clarity’s sake however I will give you a brief intro - quinoa is actually a ‘psuedocereal’ (being neither truly grass nor grain) whose edible seed was cultivated by the Incas who considered it to be the ‘mother of all grains’ (thank you Wikipedia). More usefully, it has a high protein content, a complete set of amino acids, a range of minerals and is high in fibre as compared to other similar products such as rice – making it a valuable addition to vegetarian, vegan and gluten free diets. It looks a bit like couscous but has a nice toothsome texture when cooked and a slightly nutty flavour. It requires rinsing before cooking (to remove a bitter compound called saponin) and can be cooked and flavoured much like rice (maybe use a bit less liquid). Indeed, I generally use my rice cooker to cook it.

But for breakfast, you ask? Well, yes, for breakfast. I stumbled upon a recipe in one of my favourite cookbooks (The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufman) for Orange Dessert Quinoa – the key to which is cooking quinoa in orange juice - and adapted it into a portable breakfast. I can cook this on Sunday and keep it in the refrigerator and for most of the week take a tasty container of breakfast with me to work in the morning – one recipe lasts me about 4 days. I just eat it at my desk with a spoon when I get to work – no fuss, no muss, nothing to add, delicious and healthy and the short journey keeps it from being too cold to appreciate the flavours. That being said, the week I made some cashew cream was a highlight as a tablespoon of this drizzled over my bowl was very nice – other creams would be nice as well, dairy or soy for example if you are so inclined.

To give this wholesome breakfast a try: Take 1 ½ cups of quinoa and give it a good rinse in several changes of water. You will need a fairly fine strainer to keep your precious little seeds from escaping. Put the rinsed and drained quinoa in your rice cooker with 2 cups of orange juice, a pinch of salt, a generous tablespoon of agave syrup (or honey, or a sweetener of choice) and whatever else strikes your fancy. Just set your rice cooker onto a regular cycle and let it go. If you’d prefer to use a pot on the hob, this is ‘absorption method’ cooking so make sure your pot has a reasonably tight fitting lid, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer (low heat) for 15-20 minutes and then just turn the heat off and let the mixture sit in the pan with the lid on to steam for a further 10-15 minutes.

My best attempt yet included about 50g of dried cranberries, 3 tablespoons (or so) of toasted, chopped hazelnuts, a sprinkling of ground flaxseed and a good sprinkling of cinnamon. In my opinion, it was the cinnamon that was the key to my success with this last batch. I may try some mixed spice on the next batch for an even warmer flavour – although I have to admit that orange and cinnamon is one of my favourite flavour combinations.