Quinoa Vegetable Kichadi

Its always a pleasure to cook, click and compose a post for my blog. As I had another bigger pleasure  which needs almost all my attention in the first week of February, this space was quiet and inactive for quiet some time!! :) 

 Yup..we are blessed with our second darling Daughter in February. :) :D 

I am trying to bounce back to the old routine, which has been not so easy or not easy as I thought!! Meanwhile, here is a quick fix from my kitchen to yours. Quinoa vegetable kichadi! 

Ingredients 

Quinoa -1 cup

Moong dal - Little less than 1/2cup 

Water - 3 cups

Vegetables - 1 cup (Carrot, beans, potato, peas, color capsicums, cubed in equal size) 

Onion -1(medium size)

Tomato -1 

Green chilly - 3 (adjust to your spice level) 

Turmeric powder - 1/4teaspoon

Cinnamon stick - 2

Cloves -2

Bay leaf - 1

Ginger garlic (freshly crushed) - 2teaspoons 

Salt 

Ghee - 2 tablespoons (or more!! ;)) 

To temper 

Oil - 2 tablespoons 

Red chilly -1

Pepper corns - 8

Cumin seeds -1 teaspoon 

Method

Wash and soak the moong dal & quinoa for 20 minutes.

Cut the vegetables into equal size cubes and keep it aside.

Chop the onions, tomato, green chilly. 

Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add the cloves, cinnamon sticks, cumin seeds and pepper corns and sauté for few seconds. Add the onions, green chilly saute, then add the crushed ginger and garlic. Once the raw smell has gone, add the chopped tomato and cook until it becomes mushy. 

Now add the cubed vegetables along with the bay leaf. Give a brief saute, then add the quinoa and dal along with enough salt and turmeric powder. Mix well, add 3 cups of water, close the pressure cooker.

Cook in medium flame for 3 whistles. 

Open the cooker once the pressure cooker cools down, add ghee mix it well and serve hot.

Tastes good as such, we don't need any side dishes..but you can always have some roasted papad and kadi, which is the traditional combo of kichadi. 

Read More

Quinoa Pulao/ Vegetable Pulav with Quinoa

Ingredients

Quinoa-3/4cup

Mixed vegetables-1cup

Onion-1

Green chilly-1

Tomato-1

Garam masala-2teaspoons

Turmeric powder-1/4teaspoon

Chilli powder-1/2teaspoon

Mint and cilantro leaves

Ginger-garlic paste - 2teaspoons

Oil 

Salt

To cook the quinoa

Ghee-1teaspoon

Bay leaf-1

Cinnamon stick-2" 

Clove-1

Elaichi-1

Water-2cups[ depends on the quality of the quinoa. Usually 1:2 is the quinoa-water ratio, but mine needs more water, so adjust accordingly]

Method

1.Heat ghee in a pan, add the bay leaf, cinnamon, clove and elaichi. Once they pop-up, add water. 

2.Add enough salt and let it boil nicely.

3. Add the washed quinoa and cook on medium heat until done. [it took about 12 minutes for me]

4. Meanwhile chop the vegetables ready. Chop the onion-green chilly and tomato too.
5. Heat oil in a pan, add the onion followed by the crushed ginger garlic and chopped mint leaves.
6. Sauté for one minute and add in the turmeric-chilly and garam masala powders. Cook till the tomatoes become soft.

7. Now add the vegetables, mix it gently.
8. Add little salt, with about 1/2cup of water and cook until the vegetables are tender(but not mushy)
9. Add the cooked quinoa and mix it with the masala. Reduce the heat to low and cook for few more minutes.
10. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Tasty and healthy pulao is ready to serve.

We had it with Ash gourd Raitha.

Recipe Inspiration : HERE , Thanks Julie for the recipe! 

Read More

Quinoa Paniyayarm

Ingredients
Wild quinoa/Quinoa -1cup
Brown rice-1cup
Methi seeds-1teaspoon
Urad dal-1/4cup
Salt

Method
Wash and soak the rice-quinoa and methi seeds for 4 to 5 hours.
Wash and soak urad dal for 11/2 hour.[Can soak it separately or with quinoa itself, I soaked with quinoa]
Grind everything to a fine batter, add enough salt and let it ferment for at least 8 hours.
Check the consistency of the batter, add water if necessary while preparing paniyarams.

Heat a paniyaram pan on medium heat with little oil in each of the hole. Pour a small ladle of batter in each hole and let it cook.

Turn the paniyaram once its cooked on one side and cook on the other side. Remove them from the pan and serve hot with your choice of chutney.

We had it "Madurai chutney", perfect combo for paniyaram.

Note
I have used wild quinoa in this recipe so the color is little brown. If we use plain quinoa the color will be slightly different. Here is the picture of the paniyarm with normal quinoa.

Read More

Quinoa Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Last week I saw some Poblano peppers in the local farmers market and picked a couple of them. Had a brief discussion with the Mexican lady who was selling the peppers, and came to know that these peppers are so good for stuffing. 

Searched the internet for some mexican stuffed pepper recipe and landed here.  Usually I don't store cheese at home, so adjusted the recipe according to the ingredients I had, to our Indian taste buds of course! :) Ended up with this healthy and interesting meal.

Ingredients

Poblano peppers -2

Onion-1

Green chilly-1

Garlic cloves-2

Cumin seeds-1/2teaspoon 

Chopped bell peppers-1/2cup

Cilantro

Scallion/Spring onion-3

Lemon juice from half of a lemon 

Desiccated coconut-1tablespoon

Coriander powder-1/2teaspoon

Garam masala powder-1/2teaspoon

Salt 

Quinoa-1/2cup

Water-1cup 

Olive oil-1tablespoon

To grind

Tomato-2

Red chillies-2

Garlic cloves-2

Method

Cook 1/2cup quinoa with 1 cup of water. Once the water starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium, close the pan and cook for 7 to 8 minutes. By now quinoa would have absorbed all the water and would have become soft and fluffy.

Chop the 1/2cup bell pepper(s), 1onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 3 green chillies and keep it ready.

Grind 2 tomatoes, 2 red chiles, 2 cloves of garlic with enough salt. 

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil, add 1/2teaspoon of cumin seeds and let them splutter. Add garlic, green chillies, onion, enough salt (for the veggies and quinoa) and fry for 2 minutes. Now add the chopped bell peppers, 1/2 teaspoon of coriander powder, 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala powder, stir everything well and cook for 2-3 minutes. 

Reduce the heat to low, mix the quinoa, chopped coriander leaves. Once the mixture cools a bit, add  3 chopped scallions and juice form half of the lemon. 

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350F. Pour the tomato puree in a greased baking dish. Cut chiles half lengthwise, remove the stem and seeds. Fill them with the quinoa and place them on the baking dish. Cover it with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. 

Carefully take the baking dish out, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of desiccated coconut on the chiles, and some more cilantro. 

Increase the oven temperature to 375F, and bake the chiles uncovered for about 10 to 15 minutes. 

Delicious, and spicy stuffed poblano peppers are ready to serve. Keep the chilies on the serving plate, pour the tomato puree on them and enjoy! 

Step by Step Pictorial 

We had some left over quinoa stuffing, which was just tasted like quinoa upma.  So, along with that uppuma , Hubby dear sprinkled some chia seeds on the peppers, had it with some blue berries, tomato slices and lemon wedge! 

Colorful and healthy meal! :)

Read More

Quinoa Dosai

Ingredients
Idli rice/Ponni boiled rice-1cup
Vendhayam/Methi seeds-1/2teaspoon
Quinoa-1/2cup
Urad dal-1/4cup
Salt

Method

Wash and soak the rice, quinoa and methi seeds together for 5-6 hours.
Wash and soak the urad dal for 11/2hours.

Grind all the things in a single batch to a thick batter. (If you make larger quantity, you can grind the urad dal separately).

Add enough salt, mix it well and let it ferment for at least 8 hours. ( I kept inside the conventional oven with light on, and this is what happened to me! Hehe..! :) )

Add little water to the batter if necessary and make dosa's as you make regular dosa. 

Tasty and healthy dosa's are ready to eat. 
These dosa's turn brown sooner than the normal dosa, so careful and adjust the heat.  They have little sweeter taste (from the quinoa, I guess! :) ). 

Serve along with your choice of chutney/sambar or kurma. 

Read More