Dear Gracy: How can I prevent cooking dry, grainy Quinoa?

3 October 2017

Dear Gracy,

I’ve eaten many Quinoa salads in restaurants. Most of them were amazingly tasty, but I’ve had a few that were disgustingly dry and grainy, simply unpleasant in texture. I want to start cooking Quinoa at home, but how can I prevent cooking dry, grainy Quinoa?

Sincerely,
Sharon

__________________

Dear Sharon,

It’s very simple!
There are two ways to prevent dry, grainy Quinoa.

1. You have to add enough water.

This allows your Quinoa to fluff up to its full potential and not be grainy. The usual ratio for fluffy Quinoa is 1 Cup of Uncooked Quinoa to 2 Cups of Water. However, if you like your Quinoa softer, then simply add about 20ml more water. Do take note that adding TOO much water will cause your Quinoa to be mushy, even porridge-like.

Not only do you have to add enough water to make your Quinoa fluffy, but you also have to let the Quinoa steam. For example, once your Quinoa is done cooking in either your pan or rice cooker, fluff it up with a fork and then cover the pan/rice cooker again and let it steam for another 5 minutes. This will make your Quinoa extra fluffy!

2. You have to add a bit of oil.

Adding oil to your Quinoa as it cooks will lock in moisture and keep your Quinoa seeds hydrated. This results in Quinoa that is absolutely not dry and beautifully pillowy soft. You only need to add about 1-2 tablespoons of oil for every 1 cup of uncooked Quinoa that you cook!

The best oils to use are coconut oil and sesame oil, because both of these oils are good fats and they add a nice fragrance and taste to the Quinoa. These oils make your Quinoa even more pleasurable to eat!

Try out these tips when you cook Quinoa at home. We are sure that with these two hacks, you will always make the perfect Quinoa at home 😉

Your Superfriend,
Gracy

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