The Food Site

I used to make a lot of salsa, then bottle them up and keep in the freezer. I’d use them for my salads, sandwiches or even to eat with rice. It has been awhile since I made salsa. Since, I do not want to freeze them this time, I thought of changing the recipe a bit and made a sorta chicken and quinoa salsa stew. Originally, I wanted it to be vegetarian, to leave out the chicken but then, I changed my mind and added the chicken for the two meat-eaters at home.

The great thing about cooking this salsa style dish is that it is very versatile and can be eaten as it is or with rice, salad, bread, even spaghetti! It is pretty simple to make too. First, you will need…

carrots, tomatoes, celery, onions, potatoes, bell pepper (capsicum), ketchup, balsamic vinegar, ready-made pasta sauce and

quinoa. I used red quinoa because it’s what I have. You can use pearl quinoa (the white quinoa) or black quinoa, whichever one you like. The cooking method for all types of quinoa is the same. After chopping up all the vegetables into chunks…

You will need to heat up a pot with some olive oil. First, you sautè the onions for a short while and then you add the carrots, tomatoes, capsicum, tomatoes.

After you stir it around for a minute or so, you add the potatoes, celery, sauces and water. Also add a sprinkle of dried mixed herbs for extra flavours. The quinoa is the last one to go in, after adding all the other stuffs. Then, you just leave it to simmer over low fire for close to two hours. If you don’t have the time, just dump all ingredients into the crock pot or slow cooker and leave it to simmer on low overnight. It will be ready the next day! And that’s it. Easy and so darn good, you may want to make it again and again!

So, here’s the recipe:

Wholesome Healthy Quinoa Salsa Stew

Ingredients

3 large carrots, cut into chunks

4 large tomatoes, diced

3 large onions, chopped

2 large potatoes, cut into chunks

3 stalks of celery, diced

1 – 2 capsicum (bell peppers), cut into chunks

1/2 cup red quinoa

5 tbsp pasta sauce

4 tbsp ketchup

1 tsp dried mixed herbs

1 – 2 cups of water (depending on how thick / watery you want it to be)

palm-sized chicken breast, skin removed and sliced thinly or minced. (if you want to add chicken or you can leave it out if you want a vegetarian one)

Instructions

1. Heat up a large pot with some olive oil.

2. Sautè the onions and then add the carrots, capsicum and tomatoes. Stir for a minute or so.

3. Add in the rest of the vegetables (potatoes and celery) and then stir in the sauces.

4. Add water and pour in the uncooked quinoa. Stir to mix the ingredients around.

5. Turn the heat up to medium and let it boil. Add the herbs, then add the minced chicken (or sliced chicken, whichever you like).

6. Turn down the heat to low and leave it to simmer for up to 2 hours. Remember to check on it and stir often to make sure it doesn’t burn.

7. If you are using the crock pot / slow cooker, then you can skip the sauteeing part. Instead, just dump everything in, add the sauces and water and leave it to cook on slow.

Special note: Water is important so you must not leave it out and it is important to add more as quinoa absorbs a lot of water and it needs a lot of water to cook. Here’s how to cook quinoa.

This quinoa recipe is great to go with any food. If you are cutting down on calories, you can eat this as it is with salad as I also like to call this recipe an all-in-one meal which contains vegetables, protein (quinoa is very high in protein) and healthy carbs (potatoes).

If you simply must have rice…

or if you prefer bread…

It is pack full of nutrients from all the vegetables and quinoa so it is not only low in fat (especially if you cook it without the chicken), it is very wholesome and best of all, so good you won’t even feel as if you are eating diet food!

The first time I heard of Quinoa is when I read about it over at Gera’s SweetsFoods blog and then when I did my fat burning food series, I found out how versatile it is and best of all, it is one of the super healthy foods you simply must have in your diet! Quinoa (pronounced as keenwah) is gluten-free and it is high in protein and best of all, it is also a fat burning food and a heart healthy food.

I have never cooked quinoa before so I searched around for ways to cook quinoa and stumbled upon this site. I got the Cranberry Almond Quinoa Recipe there and thought, I’d give it a try with slight changes. This is what I managed to cook:

Cranberry and almonds with Red Quinoa

Trust me, it is as delicious as it looks. Move over boring plain ole rice, here comes quinoa! It has a slightly crunchy texture like crunching on tiny semi-soft bubbles that pop in your mouth easily and the flavour…oh, I simply love the flavour! It has a nutty scent to it so it is like eating some exotic tiny nuts. Which I think it is in a way since it is a grain and it is from Peru. The addition of toasted almond flakes gives it even extra crunchy texture and rich almond flavours while the dried cranberries cuts the richness with its slight sourish flavour. Magnifique!

Here’s the recipe for

Cranberry Almonds Red Quinoa

Ingredients

1/2 cup red Quinoa (I reduced the amount from the original recipe because quinoa is known to double up in size after cooking)

*I used the organic red quinoa*

Half cube of chicken stock

a dash of sea salt

a dash of cinnamon powder

1/4 cup almonds, sliced into flakes and toasted

1/4 cup dried cranberries

*Toasted almond flakes and dried cranberries*

1 cup of boiling water

Instructions

1. Soak the quinoa in water for about 30 mins to 1 hour.

2. Then you rinse it out several times. This is because it has a bitter taste if it is not soaked and rinsed properly.

*Use a fine mesh sieve to drain the quinoa*

3. Heat up a non-stick pan and pour your drained quinoa in. Stir fry it till it has dried out. Then you add in the almonds and cranberries.

*Add the cranberries and almonds and continue to stir fry*

4. Then, pour in the boiling water, add the chicken stock, salt and cinnamon powder.

5. Now, cover it and let it simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Then you stir it, turn off the heat and let it stand covered for another five minutes.

6. Serve while still hot. It can be eaten as it is or you can serve it up with some nice fish curry.

*You can serve it with some curry too*

It is a great healthy replacement for rice and if you find it too complicated just cook it without the added flavours and eat it with other dishes like curry, just like how you’d eat rice. Now that I know how to cook quinoa, I will be cooking quinoa recipes even more!