Quinoa used to be a challenge for me. The fact that it would turn out watery and mushy, used to drive me nuts! Two things that are very important for me are texture and flavor, of course in addition to nutrition. I needed a way to cook it more fluffy and firm, so I started experimenting. My goal was to replace rice with quinoa, wherever I could.
Cooking Quinoa
Clearly, the two most important factors here are the proportion of quinoa to water and time to cook. Most quinoa recipes out there, suggest cooking in a deep pan on a stove top. They also recommend two cups of water to one cup of quinoa. Given that I wanted to cook in a rice cooker or Instant Pot, I realized that adding two cups of water might be a bit much. After a few trials I got the best results by adding about 1 and a quarter cups of water to one cup of quinoa.
Quinoa Vegetable Pulao
Generally, pulao (or Pilaf) is made by cooking all ingredients together or cooking them separately and then mixing. In my recipe Brown Rice Vegetable Pulao, I cook rice and veggies separately and mix them up in a large bowl. Since brown rice takes way longer to cook than veggies, it does not make sense to cook them together – you’ll just end up with mushy vegetables and that’s not fun. It’s a different story with quinoa, since it cooks much faster than brown rice.
Rice Cooker or Instant Pot (IP)?
While I mostly cook this recipe in a rice cooker, I have shown both methods here. The IP version is a video at the bottom of the recipe. I wouldn’t say that one has a major advantage over the other. I typically use IP when something needs to be pressure cooked, like brown rice or lentils.
Quinoa is one of the most protein-rich foods we can eat and contains almost twice as much fiber as most other grains- it is also gluten free and packs a host of other vitamins. This recipe has the goodness of vegetables, takes very little oil and is mostly steamed- its overall a wholesome and delicious recipe that is low in calories and high in protein and fiber.
Check out some of our delicious quinoa and one-pot meal recipes:
- Jeera Quinoa
- Summery Quinoa Salad
- Brown Rice Vegetable Pulao
- Egg Tomato Spicy Rice
- Savory Brown Rice Pongal
- Vegetable Multigrain Khichdi
- Brown Rice Khichdi
- Mexican Rice
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Quinoa Vegetable Pulao
Ingredients
- 3/4 Cup Quinoa - Washed and drained
- 1/8 Cup Green Beans - Small Pieces
- 1/8 Cup Carrots - Small Pieces
- 1/8 Cup Potato - Small Pieces
- 1/8 Cup Onion - Small Pieces
- 1/8 Cup Green Peas
- 1/8 Cup Mint Leaves - Fresh leaves
- 1 Green Chili Pepper - Large (blended)
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger - Blend 1/2 inch cube size fresh ginger
- 1 Clove Garlic
- 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt - Low Sodium
- 1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil - Cold pressed
Instructions
- Cut vegetables and set aside.
- Heat oil in a pan on medium flame and saute vegetables for 5 minutes.
- Blend ginger, garlic, chili pepper and add to vegetables in pan; stir well for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add salt, mint leaves and stir well
- Add quinoa and stir for a minute
- Transfer to a rice cooker bowl, add 4 ounces of water, mix well and turn cooker on- cook for 15 minutes; Quinoa is ready to be served.
Tried this nutritious recipe last night with onion/tomato raita for dinner and it turned out great! My biggest achievement was that I got both my husband and my kids to enjoy this delicious, wholesome dinner:-) Plus this one pot healthy meal is so easy to fix on a busy weekday.
Glad the family enjoyed it. Quinoa is a great addition into our cuisine since it can do most of the ‘jobs’ that rice can. Get creative and throw in a handful of quinoa seeds into your dosa batter.