Quinua con Manzana, Peruvian Quinoa Breakfast
In the Peruvian highlands where quinoa has been farmed for thousands of years, it turns up at breakfast as often as at dinner, simmered soft with fruit into a warm, spiced bowl the way oats are eaten farther north. Quinoa is one of the few plant foods with a complete set of essential amino acids, which is what makes a bowl of it a real start to the day rather than just a warm sweet. The sweetness is entirely fruit: apples cooked two ways for both body and bite, plumped raisins, and a couple of dates blended through. Cinnamon and clove do the aromatic work. The only thing to get right is the rinse, since unwashed quinoa carries a bitter, soapy coating that no amount of sweetness will cover.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Quinoa, rinsed well
- 1 stick Ceylon cinnamon, or 1 tsp ground
- 2 wholes Cloves
- 2 Apples, 1 grated, 1 diced small
- 1/3 cup Raisins
- 2 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
- 1 1/2 cups Unsweetened soy milk
Method
- Rinse the quinoa under running water for a full minute, rubbing it between your fingers. The natural coating of saponins tastes soapy and bitter, and a thorough rinse is the one non-negotiable step with quinoa.
- Simmer the quinoa with 1.5 cups (360 ml) water, the cinnamon stick, and the cloves for about 12 minutes, until the grains uncurl their little tails and most of the water is gone. Cooking the spices in from the start lets their warmth soak all the way through the grain.
- Stir in the grated apple, the diced apple, the raisins, and the chopped dates. Grating one apple lets it melt into the porridge for body and sweetness, while the diced one keeps some bite, so you get both in one bowl.
- Pour in the soy milk and cook gently another 5 minutes, stirring, until creamy and loose. Soy milk carries the protein here, turning a plain grain into a breakfast that actually holds you through the morning. Do not let it boil hard or it can catch.
- Fish out the cinnamon stick and cloves. Serve warm, thinned with a little more soy milk if you like it looser, or chill it and eat it cold, when the flavors settle and sharpen.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 320 calories, 10 g protein, 8 g fiber, 70 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
