Quinoa Upma

I had bought a packet of quinoa from whole foods. And it was sitting in my pantry untouched for few months. You know when you go the whole foods, you get in the ‘healthy mode’ like OK from now I will be eating healthy stuff only, I need to buy healthy grocery. After few days, that ‘healthy mode’ disappears, you forget you had bought some stuff. Many of you can relate to this, I know!! But a couple of months back, due to some health reasons hubby gave up white rice. So to replace that I started using brown rice. On one day, I thought of using quinoa to replace the rice. I cooked the quinoa similarly I make jeera rice. From then, we both fall in love with this grain. Now I am cooking it regularly almost every single day. I have been making quinoa-dal to replace our dal-rice in every meal. Apart from this, I started making many other recipes using it. I will be sharing those here. The first recipe sharing here is this vegetable quinoa upma. Quinoa is very very healthy, it is full of protein. It contains twice as much fiber as other grains. It contains other many nutrients also. Speaking of vegetables, I have used onions, carrot, peas and beans. Please do not skip the onions. But you can adjust other veggies by replacing or skipping them. You can add corn, mushroom, broccoli or potato as per your liking. Check out other upma recipesOats upma  //  Bread upma  //  Rava upma // Poha upma

Step By Step Photo Instructions:

1. Take quinoa in a fine mesh strainer and wash it under running cold water. Do wash very well, it will help to reduce the slight bitterness of the quinoa. Keep it aside.
2. Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add mustard seeds and let them pop.
3. Then add chana dal and saute for few seconds till it starts to brown.
4. Then add urad dal, saute for some time till it gets light brown in color.
5. Now add ginger paste, chopped green chilies and curry leaves.
6. Stir and cook for a minute or till the raw smell of ginger goes away.
7. Add chopped onions and sprinkle some salt to speed up the process.
8. Cook for 2-3 minutes or till onion becomes soft and translucent or light pink.
9. Now add chopped carrot, beans and peas.
10. Stir well and add remaining salt.
11. Add quinoa.
12. Mix and saute for 2 minutes.
13. Now add water.
14. Let the water come to a boil.
15. Now cover the pan with lid and lower the heat to low-medium.
16. Cook for 18-20 minutes. No need to check or stir during this cooking time. After 18-20 minutes turn off the stove, open the lid. You will notice all the water is absorbed and quinoa are cooked. Quinoa will look transparent and a small tail or string will pop out when cooked well. When you taste it, it will soft yet chewy and slightly crunchy.
17. Stir or fluff it with spoon or fork. At this point if you find any water or moisture then you can cook for few minutes till water is evaporated. But in most cases you won’t find any water left.
18. Add chopped coriander leaves.
19. Squeeze the fresh lemon juice.
20. Stir well and quinoa upma is ready to serve. Remove it to a serving bowl and enjoy!! Serving suggestion: Serve this quinoa vegetable upma as a breakfast or snack with a cup of tea or coffee. Instead you can serve chutney or podi or pickle on side to perk up the flavors. It can be packed into the lunch box for kid’s or adult’s. It makes healthy, light meal. Did you try this quinoa recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a review in the comment section below.