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Saturday, February 8, 2014

Quinoa Pilaf






I had posted a recipe for golden Quinoa pilaf in 2011, this time I made it little different and came out good,  so I thought I will share it with you all.  Basic ingredients are same, except I added sliced almonds and roasted Quinoa with these almonds before making the pilaf and it enhanced the nutty taste and flavor of quinoa.


Ingredients:


* 2 cups Quinoa

* 1/4 cup sliced almonds

* 2 tablespoon of olive oil or butter

* 5 cups water

* 1 cup frozen peas

* 1 cup frozen corn kernels

* 1 red onion

* 1/3 cup chopped green onions (optional)

* 1 sprig of curry leaves

* 1 potato peeled and chopped in small cubes

* 6 baby carrots chopped into small pieces

* 1" piece of ginger finely chopped (optional)

* 1/4 cup olive oil or any vegetable cooking oil

* 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

* 3-4 pods of dried red chili peppers

* 1/4 teaspoon of asafetida

* 2 bay leaves

* 1 black cardamom or 2-3 pods of green cardamom

* 1/3 cup of crushed tomatoes

* 2 teaspoons turmeric powder

* 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder or paprika powder

* 1/2 teaspoon garam masala (optional)

* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

* 1 teaspoon cumin powder

* salt to taste

* Juice from fresh 1-2 limes (or to taste)

* 1 small bunch of cilatnro leaves finely chopped for garnish.


Method:


*  Heat oil or butter in a sauce pan and add Quinoa and almond, roast it for 5-6 min with constantly stirring on medium heat. Set aside


* Prepare all the veggies as follows.


* Chop onion, green onions, carrots and potatoes in to small pieces.


* Thaw the frozen corn and peas in microwave for about 3 min without adding any water.


* Peel and finely chop ginger in to small pieces.


* Heat oil on stove, when it is hot add cumin seeds.


* When cumin seeds crackle add asafetida, bay leaf and cardamom followed by curry leaves and chili pods.
































* Immediately add both green and red onions, ginger, saute for 2-3 min until translucent.


* Add potatoes and carrots and dash of salt, and turn the heat down to low and sprinkle some water, cover and cook (with occasional stirring) until potato and carrots are tender.


* Add corn, peas and crushed tomatoes and cook for another 2-3 min.


* Add all the dry spices and remaining salt.


* Mix well and cook for 1-2 min.


* Mix and toss roasted Quinoa germ and almonds to prepared spiced veggies, mix well.


*While cooking above, boil water on another stove top or in microwave.

* Add 5 cups of boiling water to this Quinoa and veggies and bring to boil on high heat.

* Turn the heat to low and cook the Quinoa for 15-20 min or until there is no water remaining and until the germ separates from the seed. The cooked germ looks like a tiny curl and should have a slight bite to it.
 
* Add lime juice from fresh lime.

* Garnish with chopped cilantro leaves, you can serve this hot or at room temp.


* If you choose you can also garnish this with sauted/roasted cashews halves/ pine nuts or with fresh pomegranates seeds.











This recipes yields about 6-8 servings. Enjoy :)










Photograph of Quinoa in teaspoon source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License


Rest of all he Photographs by Surekha.
Recipe modified by Surekha from a recipes on the bag of Organic "Earthly Choice" Quinoa bought from local Costco store.

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