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Quinoa is a very nutritious food, being a complete protein, but it can have a rather acrid flavour. This is caused by the coating the seed has to discourage insects from eating it. If you rinse whole quinoa you can get rid of this. I have used rinsed quinoa in these muffins, which I then toasted to a light brown before adding to the flour. The whole quinoa gives a crunchy texture. If you don’t want this blitz the quinoa in a blender to get a smooth texture.
These muffins turned out to be quite sweet. You may want to reduce the sugar.
Makes about 16 small muffins. Use cupcake paper cases to line your tins to make things easier.
Heat oven to 170C (fan)
100g quinoa, rinsed and toasted
100g flour (40% urid, 40% tapioca, 20% cornmeal)
1 large banana, mashed
50g blueberries or other dried fruit
50g vegetable oil
50g brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
Whisk the flour and baking powder together then stir in quinoa and blueberries.
Mix mashed banana, oil, sugar and eggs.
Mix the wet and dry mixtures together
Spoon into paper cases – no more than 2/3 full.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes until brown on top.
Tip onto a cooling rack to avoid a soggy bottom. Freeze as soon as cold for an easy snack.
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Author Information: Lois Parker, Peopleton, United Kingdom
Email: loismayparker@gmail.com
Blog: Blissglutenfree
What in the world is URID?
Urid lentils are small creamy coloured lentils with a dark skin. The are used in southern indian cooking a lot. The flour made from them is used to make papadums and dhosas, mixed with rice, so you are likely to have eaten it without realising it before.
This lentil is also called papad and urad.
It has the advantage in gluten free cooking that it allows a general purpose flour to be made which pretty much means you can use wheat recipes for everything except high-rise bread or flakey pastry. When cooked it is flavourless, unlike chickpea/gram flour, and it gives much more holding together than any of the other options. As I do not use any gums in my cooking I rely on this for all my baked goods.