It can be scary what a bachelor (or in my case, a husband in a family with a working wife) can do if they master a few techniques. I don’t cook many different foods, but quinoa is very easy to prepare and tastes good even if it’s plain. Quinoa salads are one popular way to prepare foods with this pseudocereal, but I’ve been fond of a recipe.. no, more a way of cooking that the blogger Feed Yourself demonstrated and I like to use. Although Feed Yourself called it a pilaf, it’s really more of a stir-fry. This time the point was to make something good tasting out of vegetables I had to cook or let spoil. Oh yes, and also leave enough behind to do lunch the next day.
Ingredients:
4 ounces quinoa (rinse if necessary)
carrots, several of the “bite” sized pieces, diced
celery (rescued pieces), equal to about 2 stalks
1/3 large red onion, diced.
4-5 mini bell peppers, halved, deveined and deseeded, and then thin sliced
2 cloves of garlic, thin sliced.
2 sprigs each, oregano and thyme.
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce (optional)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon olive oil.
Get a 2 quart saucepan and add quinoa and the cup of water (and some soy if you want), cover, heat until simmering, ca 15 minutes, when the water is gone. Set the quinoa aside. Prep the veggies you need. To note, the combination of onion, carrots, and celery is common enough it has its own name. And in my case, the onion had sprouted, the celery had bad spots, the peppers were showing their age, and the oregano and thyme were almost dry (but smelled so good it was a shame not to use them). I cut the bad pieces out and threw them away.
Put one tablespoon of oil in the frying pan, let it heat on high (I like a drop of water in the pan, to tell me when the pan is hot enough to use. The drop will boil off and that’s your sign). Add vegetables, and turn the heat down to medium. Stir until the onions just begin to change color, about 5-7 minutes. Add quinoa, and the leaves of the spices. Stir for a minute or two, so the quinoa is nice and warm. Pour into a bowl, season to taste, and serve.
Two servings of a quinoa stir fry.
Notes: on the blog Pink Spots, there is a very nice looking pineapple cashew quinoa stir-fry. The blogger Au Naturel has a recipe she calls an Asian quinoa stir-fry. The blogger Fat Free Vegan has a nice recipe she calls vegetable fried quinoa. The blogger Adventurous Eater likes adding a bit of egg to her quinoa stir-fry.
April 17, 2009 at 11:33 am
Oooh, that sounds so delicious!!! I’ve been wanting to turn quinoa into a stir-fry and you’ve totally inspired me to actually do it! Thanks!!
April 17, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Sara,
Quinoa is to me an almost foolproof grain. So any mix of vegetables you like, and add cooked quinoa and flavor, and you’re done. That quinoa is exceptionally rich in protein doesn’t hurt.
BTW, thanks for the email. I fixed my typo!
David.
April 18, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Yeah, I love love love quinoa! And for a vegan (or anyone concerned with their health), the fact that quinoa contains ALL the essential amino acids is a bonus!
May 16, 2009 at 10:04 am
[...] made a couscous stir fry, whose recipe I won’t post, as it’s mostly identical to the quinoa stir-fry I posted earlier. There is one exception, however. I substituted shallots for onions when I did [...]
June 26, 2009 at 7:24 am
[...] has a vegetarian sandwich they call Glenda’s Garden. Finally, I’ve cooked both a quinoa and Kashi stir-fry before. If worst comes to worst, then I can do it myself (though I need some way [...]