Peruvian superfood a tasty alternative

WHEN I traveled to Peru a few weeks ago, I had a chance to try a lot of wonderful foods. Although we can't buy many of the exotic Peruvian fruits and vegetables here, one Peruvian superfood is available in many American supermarkets and by mail order.

Quinoa has a delicious, mild flavor and cooks in 15 minutes flat--more quickly than rice. But it's much richer in protein, fiber, magnesium and calcium.

On my trip, we toured Machu Picchu, the ancient, mist-shrouded mountaintop city of the Inca empire, as well as nearby villages and towns. I was breathless, not just from the altitude but from the amazing views over nearly vertical cliffs in the cloud forest, and the amazing stonework of the Inca ruins. The traveling exhausted me, but the quinoa soup served at all the restaurants was refreshing and energizing and became a homey comfort food to me.

Quinoa is incredibly nourishing. It has more protein than other grains, and the protein is higher quality, with balanced amino acids, similar to milk and to soy.

Quinoa has been farmed for more than 5,000 years on chilly, dry mountainsides in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina and Chile. Quinoa plants have broad leaves, like spinach, and the seed crop is borne in brushy spikes that look like little brooms, 1 to 6 feet above the ground.

The ancient Incas revered it as chisiya mama , or "the mother grain." The Inca warriors marched over 25,000 miles of rock roads carrying rations of "war balls" of quinoa mixed with fat as a high-energy food. When the Spaniards conquered Peru in the 1500s, they named the grain quinoa and outlawed it and other parts of the indigenous culture.

You'll mostly find the beige variety of quinoa in the U.S. But in South America, you can find white, gold, pink, orange, red, purple and black varieties.

In the Andes mountains, the indigenous people use the seeds to make cereal, soups and breads. They eat the leaves as a vegetable (quinoa is related to spinach). And they use quinoa stalks as fuel for their fireplaces.

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Quinoa soup

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 cup diced potato, leave skin on if

desired

1 cup minced onion

1 clove crushed garlic

1 bay leaf

1 quart low-sodium vegetable stock

or chicken stock

1 quart water

Serves 8.

Bring water or stock with quinoa, potatoes and onions to a boil. Then simmer 15 minutes, until tender. Add tomato, spinach and parsley, and simmer a couple of minutes more, enough to tenderize the spinach. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Nutritional information per serving: 84 calories, 3.5 g protein, 1.4 g fat, 15 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 250 mg sodium, 600 units vitamin A, no cholesterol.

1 tomato, diced

1 cup Swiss chard or spinach leaves,

cleaned and sliced into ribbons

2 tablespoons parsley, minced

Pepper to taste

Optional variations can add diced

celery, corn kernels, diced carrots,

cooked chicken or beef, and even

milk for a richer broth.

Date published: 11/5/2006

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