WHY I'M KEEN ON QUINOA.

It's Healthy! Delightful! Delicious! Easy! Light! Yet still interesting enough to carry the burden of too many exclamation marks.

Quinoa is bouncing back. The world went mad for it about fifteen years ago (quite a way after the ancient Incas first went mad for it), which put pressure on the Bolivian farmers to produce it, and raised prices for those who had little else to live on.

But what it also did – as food fads often do - was to create a market for quinoa that enabled farmers around the world to produce their own quinoa. So we can now buy local, Australian, organically grown quinoa (look for Kindred Organics, Mount Zero and Honest To Goodness), and thank you everyone for that.

While it’s usually thought of as a grain, quinoa (keen-wah) is actually a seed; one that packs a great deal of plant protein. It’s easy to cook, expanding to something that’s soft, tender and slightly bouncy, as if you’ve woken up chewing your pillow. And it has a lovely nutty lightness that doesn’t weigh you down.

I’ll stop now, in case I inadvertently start another quinoa fad.

Coupla things to bear in mind:

ALWAYS RINSE IT FIRST. The seeds are naturally coated with bitter saponin, so cover them with cold water in a bowl and rub them in your hands, then drain and rinse well under cold running water.

DON’T DROWN IT.  Quinoa is best cooked by the absorption method, like rice.  Magic ratio: 1 part quinoa to 1.75 parts water/stock, or 200 g quinoa to 350 ml water.

WAIT FOR THE TELL-TALE TAILS. When quinoa is cooked, tiny little tadpole tails appear, which are the germs of the seed detaching themselves. You’re done.

MIX IT UP: You can buy white quinoa (the softest), but black and red quinoa are also great. Easiest to get a pack of the tri-colour quinoa that’s easily available. In the pics here, I used up the ends of a pack of mixed quinoa and a pack of white quinoa, and that was ace.

So here are three recipes: one for how to cook quinoa, one for my favourite pomegranate molasses dressing, and one for a super-simple summery salad with red capsicum, tomato, avocado, cucumber and the gang, that’s perfect for lunch.

Crucially, the salad is placed on top of the base of dressed quinoa. It’s such a simple thing to do, but to me it instantly makes more of the quinoa, and more of the salad. And it looks so much more inviting to the eye than tossing everything together, when all the good bits disappear into one overall mass. (But do toss, if you’re a tosser).

This technique also means you can just shovel in there with a spoon and pick up quinoa and salad as you go, which is a delightful way to serve yourself. Just watch out for the person who shovels up all the avocado for themselves. Some people cannot be trusted with a salad server.

HOW TO COOK QUINOA

• 200 g quinoa, any kind

• 350 ml cold water

• Sea salt

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly in cold water, and drain.

Cover with 350 ml cold water and a good pinch of sea salt and bring to the boil.

Reduce heat, cover and gently simmer on very low for 15 minutes until the tiny white tails (the germ of the seed) have popped out.

Turn off the heat, cover, and leave for 10 minutes to steam, then fluff up the grains with a fork.

If serving as a salad, spread the cooked quinoa out on a tray and leave to cool.

POMEGRANATE MOLASSES DRESSING:

Pomegranate molasses is an extraordinarily sweet, tart syrup that I sometimes hate and sometimes love. Right now I love its super-sourness and depth of richness. If you don’t have it, try balsamic vinegar.

• 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tbsp honey

• Sea salt

Whisk together, taste, serve. A pinch of sumac wouldn’t go astray if you had it.

QUINOA SUMMER SALAD

• Cooked quinoa (all or half the quantity given, up to you)

• 4 truss or 2 normal tomatoes, roughly diced

• 1 red capsicum, seeded and diced

• 1 avocado, stoned and sliced

• half bunch dill, chopped

• half a bunch mint, chopped

• Dried oregano or dried mint

• Half Lebanese cucumber, peeled and sliced

• Pomegranate molasses dressing, above

• Lemon dressing: 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice, sea salt, pepper

• Lemon wedges for serving

Toss the cooked and cooled quinoa in the pomegranate molasses dressing until well-coated, and spoon on to a serving platter, using the back of the spoon to spread it out.

Make a lemon dressing for the salad on top – just whisk lemon juice, olive oil and sea salt together.

Toss the tomato and red capsicum in the lemon dressing and strew on top of the quinoa.

Repeat with avocado slices, then cucumber, then the chopped dill and mint.

Scatter the salad with dried oregano or mint and tuck in lemon wedges.

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Next week, in The Quinoa Chronicles Part Two, I’ll have a more substantial salad, golden with roasted pumpkin, dried apricots and crunchy oven-roasted pumpkin seeds. Because once you’ve had quinoa for lunch, you’ll be wanting it for dinner.

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Thanks for dropping by! And as always, thanks for your comments and suggestions. Special thanks to Terry for opening the pomegranate molasses bottle.

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to Elders past and present, and to the continuing strength and resilience of First Nations people, communities and cultures.