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!

Like I’ve said countless times, I don’t like fish. They just smell too fishy. A whiff of any particularly fishy-smelling fish will have me gagging, bringing me right back to my pregnant days. I had long ago concluded that I must have developed an aversion to the smell of fish since that pregnancy. And my son is now more than three years old. Still, I can’t stand fishy smells. Uggghh.

But there are exceptions. Of course, there are exceptions. Who could ever live without salmon and cod fish, I ask you? But we won’t talk about salmon today. Today, it is dedicated to the darn expensive (it is considered a luxury food item over here in Asia since it’s imported and all) but oh-so-good and so un-fishy smelling cod fish.

Feast your eyes on what I did with the cod fish:

Are you salivating already? You better be because I am.

Here’s the recipe:

Oriental Butter Garlic Cod Fish Recipe

Ingredients

1 pc Cod fish steak

4 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tsp garlic powder

5 curry leaves (if you can’t find any, you can totally use Thai basil leaves or any herb with a spicy scent like marjoram)

5 tbsp diced garlic

1 tbsp diced fresh ginger

4 tbsp butter

1/2 cup water

Instructions

1. Season the cod fish with 2 tbsp light soy sauce, garlic powder and a sprinkling of the diced garlic and ginger.

2. In a non-stick pan, add the dollop of butter and heat it up.

3. Sautee the garlic and ginger till fragrant and then add the fish.

4. Pan fry the fish for a second or two and then add the curry leaves. Add a tbsp of soy sauce and two tbsp water.

5. If you noticed, some of the garlic and ginger are turning brown. Move the fish aside and remove those brown bits of garlic, ginger and curry leaves. DO NOT THROW THEM AWAY. Just set aside.

6. Then, you pan fry the fish till it is browned on both sides. Add the remaining sauce and water and then cover. Simmer the fish for a few minutes and then remove from heat.

Serve it hot and sprinkle the brown bits of ginger, garlic and curry leaves on top:

Oh yes. Now, that’s what I call oriental style cod fish with a tinge of fusion! The curry leaves gave it the nice spicy scent but like I said, it works just as well with any spicy herb.

These are some of the ingredients used in this cod fish recipe: