Quinoa has an outer seed coat of saponins which need to be thoroughly rinsed off, otherwise the grain will have a bitter unpleasant flavor. There are several ways to do this.
1) Rinse the grain under running water several times using a fine mesh strainer. This is the preferred and simplest method. A typical colander will often not work, as the holes are too large and the grains will escape.
Are you lacking a mesh strainer? Use one of the 2 methods below.
2) Rinse the grains several times with cold water in a coffee french press. Put the quinoa in the french press, add cold water, plunge, pour out the water, repeat.
3) Line a typical colander with larger holes with paper towels, and rinse away. This method can be a bit messy and annoying, but works in a pinch.
So there you go! We, fine mesh strainerless, used the french press technique tonight, and had a light dinner of rainbow quinoa, edamame, chopped green onion, and tamari. For a light, fluffy, non mushy quinoa, use 1.5 cups of water for every cup of quinoa.
Enjoy and have a great weekend! xo
