Saturday, December 21, 2013

Quinoa seasoned with mustard, spices and onions

It's my first Christmas in Portland. I have lived here for 2 1/2 years now and never been in the city during Christmas. It's surprising to see how busy all the shopping malls are. Just today we went to one near our home which is rather small and could not find any parking at all, which is quiet surprising as there is usually lots of parking in the area.

I have been at the shopping malls a lot lately, thanks to my sister who is visiting from India. So when it comes to cooking I don't have the time and patience to cook. Rice is staple food in South India, where I have lived for most part of my life. It is easy to cook and does not require a lot of effort. I have been trying to replace rice with quinoa in a variety of different dishes. My mom makes amazing vagharela quinoa, which means seasoned quinoa. And I made a similar dish just last week, here is the recipe.


Recipe: Quinoa seasoned with mustard, spices and onions

Serves: 2

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup Quinoa
1/2 cup onion finely chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic sliced
1 green chili slit lengthwise
1 tsp Olive oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp jeera
4-5 curry leaves

Spices

1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste.

 1. Wash the quinoa using a sieve and place in a pot with 2 cups of water on medium flame. Let it cook for 7-8 mins. Cook until the water has almost evaporated. Switch the flame off and close the pot and let it sit for 4-5 mins. This makes the Quinoa fluffy.

If you need detailed explanation on how to cook Quinoa, here are some good tips from thekitchn.com which I absolutely love.

2. To the cooled quinoa add all the spices and mix with a fork.

3. In a pan, add olive oil, mustard and jeera. Once the seasoning starts to splutter, add the green chili, curry leaves, onions and chopped garlic. Add a pinch of salt to let the onions cook faster.

4. Next add the quinoa with the spices to the cooked onions. Stir and let the quinoa cook until everything is blended perfectly. This would take 4-5 mins.

5. Garnish with chopped cilantro or spring onions and serve hot.





2 comments:

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