[stahrgeyzer]

I love quinoa. Taste good, and it's so soft. Ever since my filling broke and broke my tooth as well I can't chew. I had taco bell flour tortilla burrito recently and my tooth ached for days.

I was just wondering of other alternatives to quinoa. They're kind of expensive so I don't buy them too often, but thought to try couscous. Israeli couscous sounds interesting.

[divine1966]

It is pretty good. You can add different spices to it. Yes it’s soft and fluffy and is similar to couscous in texture. Sorry about your tooth

[Exoskeleton]

I really like bulgur wheat, though it does have a slight bite to it so not sure how that would work with your tooth? (It's comparable in texture to brown rice).

Then there's polenta, another favorite. That is definitely soft. Good luck with your tooth!

[Mountaindewed]

I like those little star shaped pastas called Pastina. Its really soft. I buy the Barrilla brand.

[Soupe du jour]

I've always considered couscous even softer than quinoa, especially regular couscous as opposed to Israeli coucous. Israeli couscous is bigger and rounder than regular couscous and tends to be cooked more al dente. Israeli type is also a toasted pasta. Both are forms of semolina wheat pasta and are not a seed like quinoa. Of quinoa, I found the white variety slightly softer than the red. I usually used only the red. I never bought the black variety, so can't comment on that.

As someone else mentioned, bulgur wheat would be another thing to consider, and can be soft if you cook it enough. Bulgur comes in various levels of fineness, with "fine", "medium", and "coarse" the most common. The preparation methods and times vary by fineness and all can be made to various levels of bite. Softer with longer cook time. Lentils, a type of legume, can share some uses as quinoa, but also has others. There are various colors of these, too, and firmness varies with type and cook time, as well.

I prefer quinoa and bulgur over couscous, personally, though quinoa has some uses less appropriate for bulgur or couscous. Depending on what you want to make, definitely also consider lentils. Red/yellow lentils are usually cooked to mushy. Brown can be al dente to mushy. Green are usually always used as al dente. These are the main types.

I'm a very enthusiastic cook and food blogger.

[Discombobulated]

I think couscous is softer than quinoa too.

[stahrgeyzer]

Thanks for the replies! They're all very helpful. That gives a lot of good choices; white quinoa, bulgur, pastina, regular couscous, polenta. Red/yellow lentils as well. I have brown lentils and they're soft if cooked long enough but it seems they have some outer skin that irritates my teeth but maybe the red/yellow ones are softer.

I had one of the worst toothache last night after eating a fig bar, so I'll probably just make the all of the above and just drink. If they're is no large chunks then it should be easy to drink.

Thanks again!