I know it’s rather trendy to say but I quite like quinoa. We’ve been on the bandwagon for a while but I don’t mind the rush of people that seem to now be joining the fanclub – it means there are more and more interesting quinoa recipes popping up all over the place.
We saw this one in the paper last weekend & and again in Good Taste magazine & again online at Taste.com.au. Good Taste magazine is one of my favourites & it often makes its way into the basket at Woolies. This issue has a chorizo, chicken & potato pie on the cover… Hellooo!
While we always shop with a list, the farmer’s markets often have a few somethin-somethin’s that we can’t refuse. Like fresh chorizo for example. Hot, spicy chorizo!
So although this was supposed to be a vegetarian recipe, and would definitely taste great as such, we whacked in this sucker, sliced & diced. And he lived up to his spicy name! There was sweat people!
Other than the addition of the chorizo, we made a couple of alterations to the recipe, one of which included the cooking of the corn. The recipe called for chargrilling which I’m sure would be a whole load of tasty, but we were hungry & wanted to get the food, in the belly, pronto. We boiled three cobs until slightly tender & then sliced the kernels off for a speedy pan fry, along with the chorizo & some yellow capsicum, which was all then added into the other pan the quinoa was simmering along in.
We shopped with the recipe in mind but this dish could lend itself to an assortment of flavours & could be a good way to use up leftover meat or lost-in-fridge bits like almost-over asparagus or beans.
Anywhoodle, see below for the recipe & give it a go: follow it straight up if you’re a quinoa newbie or go wild with variants if you’re a bit more sure of the ropes.
Quinoa, Corn & Broccoli Pilaf
Adapted from Taste.com.au
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 1 brown onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 150g (1 cup) quinoa, rinsed, drained
- 500ml (2 cups) water
- 300g broccoli, cut into small florets
- 2 large corncobs, husks removed
- 1 yellow capsicum, diced (optional)
- 1 chorizo, diced (optional)
- 2 tbs chopped fresh coriander
- Low-fat natural yoghurt, to serve
- Fresh coriander leaves, to serve
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Sauté onion, stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add garlic, ginger and spices. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in quinoa. Add water and stir. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover and place broccoli on top. Cover and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- Meanwhile, lightly boil/steam your corn cobs until just tender. Set aside to cool & then cut down the corncob to remove the kernels.
- In a hot pan, saute the chorizo, capsicum and corn until the corn is lightly browned in places and the chorizo is a little sizzled around the edges.
- Add saute mix and chopped coriander to quinoa mixture and combine.
- To serve, top with yoghurt and coriander leaves.
