Thursday, January 28, 2010

Quinoa Salad

(Pronounced KEEN-WAH)

I had never even heard of quinoa until mom and I went to Whole Foods and saw some quinoa salad. It was really good! Quinoa is known as a "super food" because it contains more protein than any other grain. It also has all the essential amino acids in it. So I bought some (not where you can find it other than a healthfood store) and made this recipe last night. It turned out really good.



This is the original recipe. My modifications are in the parentheses:

Ingredients
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped (I used 5)
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth (I used chicken b/c I didn't have veggie)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (left out because of Olivia!)
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup frozen corn kernels (half a can of whole kernel corn)
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained (half of one can)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions
1.Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2.Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes, (I had to cook this for waaaay longer....not sure if it's the altitude but I would say cook it until the broth is absorbed and the quinoa is soft)
3.Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

2 comments:

Carol said...

Yummy!

Laney said...

That really looks good! I may have to make that. I'm still considering giving up chicken. I already don't eat pork or beef.