Melting chocolate in cooking Quinoa

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Amateur1

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I would like to add some chocolate into the Quinoa whilst its cooking. Should I add it at the beginning, in the middle or at the end? I'm hoping to have some delicious melted chocolate to augment the flavour.

Ingredients

▢80 g quinoa raw, rinsed, approx. ½ cup
▢240 ml milk, any adjust the amount to suit your preference
▢1 tbsp cocoa/cacao powder
▢1 tbsp maple syrup optional, see Notes below
▢1 large or 2 small bananas mashed
▢pinch of salt

Instructions

In a saucepan combine the quinoa with the milk and a pinch of salt, cover and bring to the boil. Milk rises as it heats up so make sure it doesn’t spill out of the pot. Lower the heat and simmer gently, covered for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the cocoa and maple syrup (if using), stir thoroughly, cover and continue cooking gently for 3 more minutes stirring occasionally.
Remove from the heat, stir in the mashed banana and serve. Add a splash of milk if the porridge is too thick.
 
Last edited:
An intriguing recipe you have there. It´s the first time I´ve ever seen quinoa treated as a sweet, rather than savoury dish.
It all depends how the chocolate is: in pieces, in chunks, or grated?
Chocolate doesn´t take long to melt, so I´d add it when you add the cocoa powder
 
Thanks. Green and Blacks 70%, so 6 small pieces.
One change I've made is that I let it stand for 5 minutes with the gas off. Then I add the cacao and syrup. Probably a bit too late to add the chocolate at that point.
 
Just for my education, what would happen if I added the chocolate at the beginning? Would that adversely affect the taste or texture?
 
I personally would be adding the chocolate at the end.
I'd roughly chop or even grated, it so it melts more easily and stir it in just before serving.
It won't take long at all to melt if you've grated it.

I think the only major issue with adding it sooner would be if you continue to boil or simmer the milk and quinoa. The chocolate could split into its components, so you'd potentially get the cocoa butter coming out which would affect both appearance and flavour. It's the equivalent of leaving the bar of chocolate in the car on a warm day. Then letting it resolidify and eating it. Sometimes you get lucky and it's OK, but not often.

However in this recipe and with only 6 pieces, you'd probably not notice much difference provided it didn't go in at the very start.
 
P.S. From a moderators point of view, canyou please provide references for your recipes. It is important that the author gets the credit they deserve and also deals with copyright issues (unless the author says no copying period).
 
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