Quinoa

To review: I have non-IgE-mediated food allergies, which are much less deadly than what people normally think of when they think of food allergies, but are much harder to diagnose. Over the last few years, through trial and error and occasional medical advice, I think I have nailed down all of mine.

One of them is rice, which has no handy obvious similar thing to substitute for it for home cooking purposes. Quinoa was suggested to me, so I went looking for it in the nearest supermarket. The only kind they had was some fancy three-color organic quinoa.

Actually, the first thing I did was consult the Internet to find out what quinoa is, exactly. Apparently it's in the amaranth family. I know I've had no reaction to amaranth flower, so the experiment seemed safe to go ahead.

After washing, the quinoa took on the appearance and consistency of wet beach sand. Cooked, the texture was very similar to brown rice. The taste is never going to be mistaken for rice, but it does have a similar lack of flavor to rice. It also freezes well, which is a good thing because the standard recipe off the package resulted in several meals' worth of cooked quinoa.

So it does need to go with something that has a strong flavor. Pairing it with some cooked supermarket potstickers did not work very well. One of my favorites out of Fannie Farmer, though, a recipe for spiced chicken and fruit that calls for brown rice and was one of the main reasons why I was looking for a good rice substitute, worked beautifully.