I discovered I really like quinoa

[Kyle]

It turns out that a child's roomate (who ditched him on his apartment) left behind three sizable bags of dry quinoa. So my kid, who recently moved back in while he looks for a new apartment, gifted us the quinoa.

I've never really cared for quinoa. I've had it several times where it was cooked fresh and then served as a side with light seasonings. I found it bland and the texture unsatisfying.

But I needed to do meal prep for my lunches this week and I was excited to be making an ethiopian-spiced lentil dish (recipe here: https://www.cookwithmanali.com/instant- ... ntil-stew/ ) and thought to myself, "Why buy basmati rice when I have all this quinoa. I'll try it over quinoa." Because it's meal prep, I made the stew, cooked up the quinoa and portioned them out equally into three disposable tupperwares and placed them in the fridge. There they stayed for a couple of days until I was ready to have my first lunch.

Katie bar the door! Let me tell you, smother cooked quinoa in a spicy, saucy dish and let it mellow for a few days. Not only does the texture become a bit softer, but the quinoa is absolutely infused with the flavors of the sauce. Holy cow. It's so good. So, I know I'm late to the game, but I'm a big fan of quinoa now.

[Phoebe]

People sometimes dislike quinoa if it's bland or has the wrong moisture: not enough moisture and it's dry and gritty, but too much moisture and it gets soggy quickly. So if you can let it become part of another spicy, saucy dish, that's good! As a side dish it's really good mixed with barley or other grains in kind of a pilaf with hot sauce and seasoning mix to keep it lively.

[Mike]

I got excited and bought all the stuff for your Misir Wot recipe above (including subbing in quinoa), and then I got all sick and stuff for the last week. But I'm back and ready to try it. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Eliahad]

I mean there is a reason that quinoa has survived as a grain all this time. The trick, as with most things, is the preparation. I'm not very good at it, but I'm willing to try again.

[Kyle]

People sometimes dislike quinoa if it's bland or has the wrong moisture: not enough moisture and it's dry and gritty, but too much moisture and it gets soggy quickly. So if you can let it become part of another spicy, saucy dish, that's good! As a side dish it's really good mixed with barley or other grains in kind of a pilaf with hot sauce and seasoning mix to keep it lively.

I agree with this. But when you get it to just the right texture- holy shit it's delicious.