We started eating polenta when we moved back to the United States from Malawi, Africa. In Malawi we ate a corn mush called Nsima with a sauce made of fresh tomatoes and onions. Nsima flour is hard (but not impossible) to find in North America, but Polenta is in almost every grocery store. Even though polenta has a grainier texture than nsima it is an excellent taste substitute. Polenta is also a great pasta substitute, especially if you use pasta simply as a vessel to transport sauce to your mouth. It’s amazingly easy to make, keeps well, and is even better fried in oil the next day. click here to…
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Gluten Free Coconut Quinoa Porridge
My parents are coming to visit from Canada in two weeks!! We’re all very excited here; we haven’t seen them for six months. My mom is also gluten free, and she’s dairy free, and she’s one of those people who needs to eat breakfast every day. Living in Canada she has access to gluten free cereal and rice milk. Unless she’s going to survive on eggs, Thailand is going to be a bit of a breakfast challenge. I’ve only seen gluten free cereal at one grocery store. It’s ten dollars a box. So, I’ve been experimenting with quinoa. This morning I made a quinoa porridge with coconut milk and raisins.…
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How to Make Quinoa
Here’s a quick easy tutorial on making Quinoa. I’m not a huge fan of plain quinoa, but I cook it ahead and use it in other recipes with !FLAVOR! as a side dish or a breakfast cereal. Basic Quinoa Measure out quinoa and place in a strainer. You will cook it in twice as much water. (1 cup raw quinoa, 2 cups water makes 3 cups of cooked quinoa). Rinse the quinoa in a fine strainer. This removes naturally occurring bitter soapy stuff that the plant produces. Place quinoa and water into a sauce pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Quinoa is done…