If you're going for the authentic Peruvian dish, try to find quinoa.
It is pronounced keen-wa.
If you're going to get technical botanically, quinoa isn't a grain in that it isn't in the grass
family and doesn't have the same sorts of leaves or seeds that grass has. Other than that, it cooks
like a grain, looks like a grain, has the nutritional components of a grain and is found in the
grain section of the store. I call it a grain, and no one corrects me.
Look for quinoa in health food stores.
Rinse the quinoa first. Put it in a sauce pan with 3 times as much water. Cover. Bring to a boil.
Lower to a simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes. Lift cover and have a look (and taste). Sometimes it needs
a tad more water or a few more minutes to cook through. In other words, cook it like rice.
You could substitute cracked wheat (my first choice) or cous cous or kasha or short grain brown rice
(my second choice). Barley would be too soft.
Quinoa is a favorite of mine. In fact, my substitutions usually go the other way around. The recipe
will call for cous cous or cracked wheat, and I use quinoa instead. I make quinoa tabouli now
without thinking that the recipe originally called for cracked wheat.
--Lia
Jarkat2002 said:I have found a recipe for Peruvian Chicken Ragout that calls for Quinoa. I have never heard of
this grain before (I had to google it) and don't have it in my pantry (yet). I'm not even sure
it's considered a grain, some sites say yes, some say no. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup ... can I
substitute barley instead? Or rice? Would it still be 1/2 cup and would I cook it before adding it
to the soup? The recipe does not call for the quinoa to be precooked. Thank you! ~Kat
"I think I would like to call myself 'the girl who wanted to be God'. Yet if I were not in this
body, where would I be--perhaps I am destined to be classified and qualified. But, oh, I cry out
aginst it." --Sylvia Plath
