Quinoa “Mongolian BBQ” Style

Today, I was up for a really quick meal and I realized that we only had a little bit of red quinoa and “normal” quinoa left in the pantry. So we decided to mix them together. Since today was the day my husband and I are suppose to make our dinner together, I gave him the duty of making the quinoa since it was easy. (oh and I got him to clean all the dishes too.. wohooo!) Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wah) is a very light grain that is very high in protein. If you’ve never had quinoa before, it is a great replacement for rice and it has a unique nutty flavor. It’s like no other grain! Since I was feeling lazy (what else is new?) I decided to just make a simple quinoa salad Mongolian BBQ style. For those of you who have never been to this restaurant, basically you just pick a bunch of veggies, sauces and other toppings at a buffet table and give it to a chef who cooks it right before your eyes. So inspired by this concept, I put all these ingredients below out on our counter and we picked the ingredients we wanted and mixed it with quinoa. I used all of the ingredients as I thought they all went well together. It made a delicious salad! So next time you want to prepare a quick meal, take some quinoa and load up on some veggies and some of the sauces I’ve suggested in the diagram below, and most likely you won’t go wrong. 1 cup quinoa 2 cups water or veggie broth Wash the quinoa at least twice to get the naturally occurring coating off the grain. This coating can make the quinoa really bitter. I remember spitting out the grain when I first tired cooking it! Believe me you don’t want to make that same mistake! Then, boil the quinoa with water and when it starts to boil, lower the temperature to a simmer and cook for about 20-25 minutes or until you get the desired consistency. (some people like it crunchy and others like myself, like it well cooked) If you are always on the go, then the next time you are making quinoa (or any grain for that matter) make double the amount and freeze the extra. Then, when you are in a hurry, you’ll have a great base for any meal.