The Gold of the Incas

Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wah) a Super Whole Grain, was considered the gold of the Incas and is mostly grown in Peru and some other South American countries. Not only is it a rediscovered ancient whole grain, and the Mother of all Grains, it's one of the best protein choices for vegetarians because of its complete amino acid content meaning it is as close as you can get to the high protein quality of meat. Probably even better than soy protein since soy is highly genetically engineered nowadays, because it's very cheap to produce and easily fed (however unnaturally fed) to the excessive amount of animals that are brought up to supposedly feed the world! Anyway, by now you probably know how I feel about these genetically engineered foods and poisonous ways of growing food; I don't like it, so let's get back to Quinoa which is my favorite grain.
Once cooked quinoa has a fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and nutty flavor which I love. I mentioned it's high in protein, but it's also high in fiber, vitamin B2 (riboflavin), and minerals such as manganese, magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus. So, it's good for pretty much anyone, but especially for heart health, bowel issues and helps to control blood sugar levels as well as satiety. Quinoa grows on stalks with large seedheads that can be almost any color, from red, purple and orange to green, black or yellow. It's been designated a "super crop" by the United Nations, for its potential to feed the hungry poor of the world because it's drought resistant and NASA has proposed quinoa as an ideal food for long-duration space flights. Pretty cool I think!
Read more about Quinoa here.
The only problem with Quinoa is that you can't get it local, unless you live in South America, but still I think it's worth buying because of it's high nutrient content, especially if you're a vegetarian. You can find it in most Natural or Whole Food stores. I was told it's not found in Turkey and that I have to order it from Europe or US and so I have been asking friends who visit from outside of Turkey to bring me as much of Quinoa as possible:) But I found it in Istanbul, actually my brother found it in the store called Safran in Nisantasi, Istanbul. Yeeey! It's a great Natural Food Store I highly recommend you visit (Address: Valikonagi Caddesi, 58, Nisantasi, Istanbul). The quinoa they sell is not labeled as organic and they apperently import it from Russia who probably imports it from South America, so it comes a long way poluting the air. But, at least someone thought of importing such a wonderful grain that's not grown here, so I'm still happy with what I've found. So now I can cook it whenever I want or maybe I'll try to grow it here by sprouting:)
And here is my easy recipe you can use to try Quinoa. I added some Turkish words to clarify some meanings.
Quinoa with Veggies

Serving Size: 1.5 cup

Makes about 3 servings.

Ingredients:

1 cup Quinoa

 2 cups water

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 green bell pepper (2 tatlı biber)

1 red bell pepper (2 tatlı kırmızı biber)

1 cup of sliced mushrooms, any kind

1 cup of chopped zucchini (about 1 large zucchini)

4-5 strings of green onions or chives

Directions:

1.      Wash and then cut up the vegetables into cubes, except for the mushrooms.

2.      Place the quinoa and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

3.      Reduce to simmer, cover and cook until all water is absorbed, for about 10-15 minutes.

4.      While the quinoa is cooking add the oil and chopped vegetables (except for the green onions) in a pan, cook at medium heat and stir the vegetables every 30 seconds or so until they become softer.

5.      Once the vegetables are cooked, add the chopped green onions and stir few times to cook all vegetables together.

6.      Once both the vegetables and quinoa are cooked add the vegetables in the pan with the quinoa and mix.

7.      You may choose to add a pinch of sea salt and/or black pepper to the dish, but I usually cook without them. So I suggest try it without salt and then add salt if you really need to.

8.      Serve warm. Enjoy!

Note: Best part of this recipe is that you can choose any kind of vegetable you like to mix with the quinoa, and you can really chop them up any way you like. You can either mix other vegetables with the ones I chose here or you can choose your own vegetables, such as eggplants, spinach or broccoli. Also you may choose to eat the vegetables raw, in that case, just chop them up and mix them with the cooked quinoa and wait until the dish cools down for a cold quinoa salad.

Images are from Google.
Let me know about your experiences with Quinoa. With Love.