Food from Peru 101: Quinua con Pollo (Quinua with Chicken)

This is part of an ongoing series on the life of Ohio University graduate student (and soon alumnus) Carlos E., and other legal aliens in the USA.

Carlos' sister-in-law Ledy is also an Ohio University student and shared her recipe of Quinua, a Peruvian staple food: tasty little yellowish seeds that turn soft when boiled and are great with chicken. (Read more about Carlos' new life in the USA or watch him talk about the difficulties of acquiring a H1-B visa.)

She brought a bag of Quinua from Peru as the tiny red symbol in the lower left hand corner on the bag indicates. For three people she uses about a cup of the raw seeds.

Before boiling them, it is necessary to wash them several times, which can best be done with a colandor or sieve (unlike in the picture where a hand and later bowl had to suffice).

After that the washed Quinua needs another cup of water to boil the seeds for about twenty minutes until they have grown about twice their size and have become more yellow and softer.

Meanwhile the seeds boil, she chopped a medium-sized onion into tiny cubes and fried them in a separate pan with a little bit of oil golden brown. Add the fried onions to the Quinua pot after the seeds have cooked for about ten minutes.

Toward the end of the Quinua's cooking time add some black pepper, salt, fresh garlic (or garlic powder), and Maggi spice (either as boullion or liquid). Y esta es!

Quinua (upper half of the plate) similar to rice tastes great with chicken and veggies!

Que aproveche!

In a nutshell, for 3 servings of Quinua you need:

• 1 cup Quinua seeds
• 1 cup of water
• 1 medium-sized onion
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 pinch of black pepper
• 1 pinch of garlic powder
• 1 maggi boullion or a dash of liquid maggi spice

How did you come to the USA? With which red tape did you have to deal as a legal alien? Are you on the path to U.S. citizenship? What do you miss about your own culture living in the USA? Please share your stories, questions, and comments!