The Food Site

After my first attempt at cooking quinoa, I sorta went a bit obsessed with this super grain and came up with quite a few different ways to cook it. So, I decided to start a series on how to cook quinoa with my first attempt as the first in the series.

Now, I did mention that quinoa is a pretty versatile grain to cook with. You can pretty much cook it with anything you want. Since I am into making homemade burgers, I thought, hey I could use quinoa in my burgers instead of oatmeal or oat bran. Well, this time, instead of burgers per se, I made it smaller, so it is more like bite-size nuggets than burgers.

For the nuggets, I combined the best of four worlds: salmon, chicken, fresh herbs and quinoa. Also, I fried it in extra virgin olive oil. Yep, it is as healthy as I want it to be. Now, on to the recipe…

Quinoa, Salmon and Chicken Nuggets

Ingredients

1/4 cup cooked quinoa (instructions to cook quinoa is below)

100g grilled salmon, flaked

8 tbsp minced chicken meat

4 tbsp mixed fresh herbs, finely chopped (I used rosemary, sweet basil and oregano but you can use any herbs of your choice)

1 egg, lightly whisked

Seasoning

3 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp sea salt

1 tbsp chili powder (optional)

dash of black pepper

Instructions

1. Stir together the mixed herbs with the minced chicken.

2. Add in the cooked quinoa and grilled salmon.

3. Add the seasoning then, mix it all together.

4. Add in the whisked egg and stir to combine.

5. Heat up the olive oil in a wok or pan.

6. Scoop a spoonful and slide it into the hot oil

7. Flip over when the bottom turns brown and fry it till both sides are brown

And the quinoa nuggets are ready to be served!

Of course, for a more localised taste, you can always add some chili and curry…

How to cook quinoa:

1. Soak the grains for up to an hour. Rinse and drain several times. Use a fine mesh sieve to drain easily.

2. Either cook in a pot over the stove or in rice cooker. For every cup of quinoa you need two cups of boiling water.

3. Stove top cooking – just let it simmer, covered, over medium heat for about 20 minutes. Then turn off heat and let it stand covered for another 5 minutes.

It is cooked when it has almost doubled in size and looks almost like fish roe.

Chicken Recipes Series: Chicken breast recipes

Firstly, sorry for the silence…I don’t know why but time seems to move so fast and before I know it, it has been almost a week since I last updated this blog! Time sure do flies, it is already my birthday and I felt as if I just celebrated my last birthday.

Sigh…one year older, a tonne more wrinkles, an even more sluggish metabolic rate, more food turning into padding on my hips and waist…I will have to say, I don’t feel any wiser than last year except more tired, more fat, more sleepy, more grumpy, more work to do…still, I did have more fun with this blog and my personal blog, I did make some money through my blogging efforts, I still have very dark hair with no white ones in sight, I am still fit enough to go for a jog, to waltz around the house with Mr Picky like a three-year-old while carrying him (and let me tell you, he is close to 15kg!), I am still healthy as an ox (how fitting since it is the ox-year and all…), I am still taking most things in my stride and thankfully, I am still NOT nagging anyone despite the ‘training’ sessions by Mr Picky.

Though I am still inclined to ramble on and on…darn…heheheh…okay, okay, let’s get to the main thing of this post before I bore all of you to tears.

*Salmon and Chicken Burgers*

I bought one whole salmon again and had a lot of salmon to cook so, one of the ways I could think of cooking it is to turn it into a burger. Yep. The best part about this burger is that it is not purely a salmon burger but a mix of chicken breast meat and salmon burger with oats. So, it is pretty healthy considering it has salmon and oats, both of which are fat burning food, not to mention heart-friendly too.

So, here’s the recipe for

Healthy Salmon and Chicken Burger

Ingredients

4 tbsp instant oats

2 pcs grilled salmon fillet (about 200g), flaked

100g minced chicken breast

1 egg, whisked lightly

Seasoning:

2 tbsp chili powder

2 tbsp garlic powder

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp black pepper

Instructions

1. Season the chicken with the light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Then, place the flaked grilled salmon, minced chicken and instant oats in a plate and mix it all together. Add the rest of the seasoning and mix well.

2. Lightly whisk the egg in a bowl.

3. Pour the egg into the salmon and chicken mixture. Then, mix well.

*Pour the egg into the salmon and chicken mixture and then stir to combine it well*

4. Heat up some cooking oil in a frying pan / wok. Then, slide a ladle-ful of the salmon and chicken mixture into the oil.

5. The patty will start to bubble and when the bottom part starts to turn brown, it is time to flip it over and fry the uncooked side.

When it turns this brown, it is time to remove and drain the oil

6. It is cooked when both sides are a nice brown colour so remove from the oil and drain. It is ready to be served!

These salmon and chicken burgers or patties can be eaten as it is, serve up as main dish, between wholemeal bread for a wholesome, filling sandwich…however you want it! The best part about it is that it does not have the fishy salmon smell at all so to those who don’t like salmon, you won’t even know it is a salmon and chicken burger. It is also slightly spicy but if you prefer it to be extra spicy, just add more chili powder.

*Salmon and Chicken Burgers*