How to cook quinoa in microwave? is an important question in many of our minds. Yes, it is very simple and easy to prepare the quinoa in a microwave. The process is very much similar to cooking of the rice in the microwave.
In my current blog, I would like to share the amazingly simple recipe of cooking quinoa in the microwave. You will also learn a easy fried rice recipe with the microwave cooked quinoa with mixed vegetables and egg.
Quinoa is one of the most sought after recipes. Reason being they are gluten free ,high fiber content and many more health benefits. All these good qualities makes it the favorite food for the weight watchers. This is my personal favorite too as I am a health freak.
How to cook quinoa in microwave?
Quinoa makes one of the best gluten free food. You can make many recipes with quinoa like fried rice. kichadi. biriyani , pulav and also daddojanam or curd rice. Yet it is tasty and healthy food as well.
What are the utensils and time required to cook quinoa in microwave
While the utensils needed are available in any Indian Households, it is very important to keep them ready so that there is no running around.
| UTENSILS NEEDED
Microwavable Vessel Rinser Frying pan for making fried rice |
| COOKING TIME FOR QUINOA
20 Minutes |
| TiME for preparing fried rice
10 mins |
| TOTAL COOKING TIME
30 Minutes |
Ingredients to cook Quinoa in Microwave
The most important ingredient is the quinoa. Once this is available I am sure you must be having all the rest of the ingredients easily available at home. However you need to still have a list and keep them ready
| EXACT QUANTITY OF INGREDIENTS EXPLAINED FOR QUINOA
Quinoa – 1 Cups Water – 2 cups |
| INGREDIENTS FOR QUINOA FRIED RICE
Eggs – 2 Vegetable Oil – 1 tablespoon Ginger – 1 inch piece Garlic cloves – 2 Coriander leaves – 2 Tablespoon Beans – 1/2 cup carrot – 1/2 cup Salt – According to taste |
Steps to cook quinoa in Microwave
Now that we know what are the utensils and time required to cook the quinoa. You can now learn the step by step procedure to prepare in microwave. While you can cook the quinoa in pressure cooker , it is so effortless to prepare in microwave.
1. Rinse one cup of quinoa with water
You must take a bowl and add a cup of Quinoa and rinse with water. Quinoa has a coating which can give a slight bitter taste. In order to remove that you must make sure to rinse the quinoa in water atleast twice.
2. Add rinsed quinoa and add two cups of water
You must now add the rinsed quinoa to the microwavable vessel . Then add 2 cups of water to get fluffy and non sticky grains. Quinoa has a coating which can give a slight bitter taste. In order to remove that you must make sure to rinse the quinoa in water atleast twice.
3. Close the lid and cook for 20 mins in microwave
You must now close the lid. Set the timer to 20 mins in the microwave. After 10 mins the quinoa will be cooked and ready to be used in any recipe.
4. Transfer the cooked quinoa to a large bowl
Once cooked in the pressure cooker, leave for the pressure to be released from the cooker. You must then open the lid and transfer the quinoa to a bowl. Let the quinoa cool on its own. You can also cook quinoa in pressure cooker to make yummy curd rice.
How to use quinoa in a egg fried rice
Now you know how to make the quinoa in microwave. You must learn a simple recipe of making the egg fried rice with quinoa to understand how the quinoa can be used in our daily meal.
1. Take a frying pot and keep it on the stove
Take a frying pan and place it on the stove. Turn on the stove and keep the flame in medium. Make sure you always maintain the medium flame to avoid burning the mixed vegetables and egg.
2. Add two tablespoon oil to the frying pan
After few second, add the 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil to the frying pan. You may use any oil. I have used the groundnut oil as i prefer healthy fats to be added to my recipes.
3. Add ginger and garlic then saute well
Once you heat the oil, add the grated ginger and 4 or 5 cloves of finely chopped garlic to the frying pan. Saute them well until the raw smell is gone. Make sure that the garlic is not burnt as it will give the bitter taste to the fried rice.
4. Add finely chopped beans and carrot along with salt to taste.
After you saute ginger and garlic, add the finely chopped carrot, beans and saute well. Then add little salt to taste and saute again.
5. Close the lid for 5 mins and cook
Now you can close the lid and cook the vegetables for five mins. This will make the cooking faster. Since you had also added the salt, this will also help the vegetables to cook fast.
6. Add eggs to scramble along with the beans and carrot
Push the beans and carrot mixture aside and break two eggs in the frying pan. Scramble the eggs in the frying pan until cooked. Then mix the scrambled eggs with the beans and carrot.
7. Add pepper and garnish with coriander leaves
Pepper not only adds the spiciness to the egg fried rice but also enhances the flavor to the quinoa fried rice. Finally garnish with the coriander leaves which imparts aromatic flavor to the quinoa fried rice.
8. Serve the quinoa fried rice in the bowl
Yummy and delicious quinoa egg fried rice is ready to be served. You can also try the pressure cooker recipe to make super cool daddojanam or curd rice recipe.
Prime Tips for making quinoa effortlessly
I have always follow the tips for error free cooking even for the simplest dishes. You must make sure to follow the key tips which i am sharing from my own cooking experience. This will ensure you to enjoy the whole cooking process.
1. Add right amount of water for fluffy and non sticky quinoa
Always add double the quantity of the water to cook the quinoa. This will help you get soft and fluffy quinoa. Excess water makes it sticky. Some prefer to make it sticky in which case you can add more water.
2 Rinse quinoa to remove bitter taste
Quinoa has a coating which can give a slight bitter taste. In order to remove that you must make sure to rinse the quinoa in water atleast twice.
3.Maintain Medium Heat while preparing fried rice
Always prepare the tempering for the curd rice on a medium flame. If you keep it at a high flame, the tempering will burn and give your fried rice a bitter taste.
4. Usage of Coriander leaves
Coriander leaves has lot of health benefits as it has lot of nutrients, good for digestion. It also imparts a distinct and refreshing flavor to any dish you cook.
5. Reuse of cooked Quinoa
You can make quinoa in large quantities and store it in a fridge. Then reuse the quinoa while making many recipes. You can cook the quinoa in turmeric and store it. Because turmeric quinoa will be useful for pulao and biriyani recipes.
6. Easy way to peel the garlic.
Whenever you have to peel the skin of the garlic clove, microwave the cloves for 20 secs in the oven. Let it cool down. You can then try to peel off the skin, they would come off so easy.
7. Avoid burning of garlic in oil
You must make sure that the garlic is not burnt in the oil so maintain a medium heat. Burnt Garlic will give a bitter taste and also flavor of the recipe will not be good.
I am sure it must have been a amazing experience learning the delicious recipe of quinoa and also how to prepare in microwave. Please feel free to ask questions and add your comments in the section below. I would be happy to hear your comments and also clarify your doubts.