I also a lot of questions about cooking with quinoa. Quinoa is considered a pseudocereal, since is not an actual grain but is most often used as one. It is wheat free and gluten free , and is considered a complete protein. For more information about what quinoa is, check out my earlier post here .
Generally, you can cook it just like you would cook rice. Whether you want to use a rice cooker or a slow cooker, it is almost the same. Most brands of quinoa are pre-rinsed when you buy them, but if not you'll want to rinse them before cooking. Quinoa has a natural coating of saponin that gives it a bitter flavor if not rinsed off or toasted before cooking it.
If you do have quinoa that hasn't been pre-rinsed, you can either rinse it in water using a very fine strainer or toast it without rinsing at all. To toast quinoa, just toss it in a skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until it becomes a light brown color. Toasting it first will also give it a richer flavor . Both of these will remove the bitter taste from the sapinon. Once rinsed or toasted, you can cook quinoa just like rice.
You can even use the rice bowl in a steamer for quinoa , just follow the directions for white rice. You should beware when using a rice bowl in a steamer, that the quinoa grows more than rice so you'll have to leave extra room for it to expand.
There isn't a time savings by using these other methods, unless you are planning a big meal (like a holiday dinner or gathering) and need the stove top. Cooking quinoa in a rice cooker or steamer will still take about 15 minutes , similar to cooking it on the stove top (although this is a huge time saver over cooking rice on the stove). Y ou also shouldn't have any problems when cooking it in a crock pot recipe in place of brown rice.
I have several recipes that call for quinoa (and it doesn't matter if you use a steamer or rice cooker) like the Mexican Chorizo (p. 147) from The Happy Herbivore , or Kidney Quinoa Burgers (p. 85) and the Ginger Miso Quinoa Stir Fry (p. 136), both from Everyday Happy Herbivore , or my Banana Recovery Pudding .
According to my sister, cooking quinoa is easier than cooking rice since she is able to actually cook edible quinoa.