Quinoa Pongal

        

I went to my Dear Uncle, Aunty's place in CA for Christmas Holidays. I have to tell few words about my uncle. He is a super duper healthy person and he inspires me in many aspects. Every day at 7:00 AM he makes vegetable+fruit smoothies and gives it to all of us.

Quinao is his latest favorite and he used it left & right in almost all the dishes. To my surprise he made Pongal and my Maami made Walnut Chutney for breakfast.  Needless to say, it was yummy and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Quinao is rich in high protein than any other grain and has more fiber too. There is no hard & fast rules to use Quinao, juz use it in all of rice dishes instead of rice to avoid excess carbs & sugar. Even I grinded it with my multi-grain 'Adai'.                            

Quinao needs to be washed 2 or 3 times by rubbing the seeds together before cooking.                              

                               

Ingredients:                      

Quinao---------------------> 1 cup

Moong dhal---------------> ½  cup

Black Pepper--------------> 1 tsp

Cumin Seeds--------------> ½ tsp

Mustard seeds------------> ½ tsp

Procedure:                        

·         Pressure Cook Quinao & Moong Dhal + Salt with 3.5 cups of water                          

·         Dry roast Black Pepper and Crush them                

·         Do the seasoning with mustard seeds, jeera & curry leaves.                       

·         Pour the seasoning over Quinao & add the Black Pepper- Jeera mixture                               

·         Serve with Walnut Chutney                       

                               

Ideas:                   

ü  For more crunchy texture, dry roast Quinoa before cooking.      

ü  1:2 is the ratio for cooking Quinoa