Quinoa (pronounced /ˈkiːnoʊ.ə/ or /kwɨˈnoʊ.ə/, Spanish quinua, from Quechua kinwa), a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium), is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a grass. As a chenopod, quinoa is closely related to species such as beets, spinach and tumbleweeds. Its leaves are also eaten as a leaf vegetable, much like amaranth, but the commercial availability of quinoa greens is currently limited.

I read about this grain some years ago and have been hooked on to it ever since as it is very nutritious and is a good substitute for rice, being quite bland with a very mild, nutty taste. Our friends M&M even make Quinoa Biryani. I usually stir fry some broccoli and mix it with cooked quinoa with little salt and curry powder. I also mix it with idlis, Parathas and Paniyarams.
For 1 cup of cooked Quinoa, here is the nutrition profile
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/cgi-bin/list_nut_edit.pl

Paniyaram ( in Tamil) is made by steaming rice & urad dal batter with seasonings, onions added in moulds meant for this particular dish. I bought my mould in India , but you will get it in the US too, called the “Ebleskiver pan”, available in Iron and Non-stick. Making Paniyarams is very simple. Get the batter ready and pour it in the moulds. But, it takes time to cook due to which it is very rarely served in restaurants.Using this mould , one can even make low fat Vadas, pakodas instead of deep frying them.
I had some idli batter , to which added some onions , green chili and quinoa. Lo and Behold !! Quinoa paniyarams ready.

Ingredients
2 cups Idli batter/Paniyaram batter/Rice flour
( Different people have diff proportions for Idli batter/Paniyaram batter. If you don’t want any of those , just mix it with some rice flour. I use Brown Rice flour)
2 cups cooked Quinoa
3 Green Chilies
1 cup diced onion
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp jeera( cumin)
5 curry leaves
Oil as needed
Salt as per taste
Preparation
1. Mix the batter/flour, quinoa,onion and chilies.
2. Season the mustard, jeera and curry leaves in oil and add it to the batter.
3. Take the mould, pour 1 tsp oil in all the pockets and pour the batter in to those.
4. After 5 minutes, turn the paniyarams over to cook the other side, using the stick provided.
5. After 5 minutes or once the inserted stick shows the paniyarams to be cooked, just take them out using the stick.










