Keen-wah

Quinoa. Kwin-oh-ah? Kwin-wah? Keen-wah? There was some dissent in our household as to how to pronounce this 'pseudo-cereal'. Since I was actually correct for once on a point of pronunciation (that is entirely unrelated to scottish contrariness) I get to blog about it and say I told you so! Keen-wah it is. I was inspired by a Queen Bee post about quinoa, that I have subsequently failed to find, in addition to a re-discovered appreciation of Couscous. These days anything that cooks by a method involving 'pour in some hot water and ignore for five minutes' is getting some regard. We changed a River Cottage recipe somewhat to make a tasty side dish, to go with our Cumberland Pork Sausages and Chestnut Mushrooms roasted with Rosemary and Olive Oil. It went something like this: Roast some whole almonds and roughly chop. Fry 3 garlic cloves and 2 onions, both finely sliced with 1 chopped chilli and some grated ginger. Add cooked quinoa (we used cheat M&S red and white quinoa - I didn't realise when i picked it up it was either microwave for one minute or BOIL IN THE BAG! That's something i've not had since square pieces of fish in sauce in childhood) along with juice and zest of 1 lemon, a bag of baby spinach, ground pepper and the roughly chopped almonds. Stir through, season and add a splash of soy sauce if required. Serve. Clean plate.