In my humble opinion the reason many people try quinona and say “Yuck!” to it is from it being badly cooked. Kind of like the difference in eating mushy soggy rice and then having a bowl where the grains are individual. Or worse….soggy lentils versus crisp, with a bite, individual lentils that are so not mushy!
As I become more comfortable with eating grains and seeds I am trying many ways to cook them. Stovetop, oven, etc. It is how I found that the best method for brown rice is baking, I found that by following the “energy-saving” method for quinoa produces stellar results.
We buy our quinoa at Costco, they sell nicely sized bags of organic for a good price. Find it with the massive bags of rice.
So the method?
1 part quinoa to 2 parts water (example: ½ cup quinoa to 1 cup water)
Rinse in a fine-mesh strainer, then add the quinoa to a small saucepan (heavier the better) with the water and any seasonings or salt. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes (you may need to lower the heat a bit), with the pot’s lid on mostly. Stir a couple of times.
Turn off the burner and let sit tightly covered for 15 minutes.
Open up and gently fluff up with a fork.