Thai Quinoa Salad

Bruce's cousin posted this recipe a couple of weeks ago on facebook. I've modified it slightly; its a Thai-inspired quinoa with lots of veggies and a peanut sauce.

Ingredients:

 ¾ cup uncooked quinoa
1 cup shredded red cabbage
1 red bell pepper, diced
½ red onion, diced
1 cup shredded carrots
½ cup chopped cilantro
¼ cup diced green onions
½ cup cashew halves or peanuts

 For the dressing:
¼ cup all natural peanut butter
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
3 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon olive oil
Water to thin, if necessary
Fresh lime, for a bit of tang

Instructions:

 To cook quinoa: Rinse with cold water in mesh strainer. In a saucepan, bring 1 ½ cups of water to a boil. Add in quinoa and bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa has absorbed all of the water. Remove from heat and fluff quinoa with fork; place in large bowl and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes. You should have a little over 2 cups of quinoa.

Fold red pepper, onion, cabbage, carrots, and cilantro into the quinoa. Garnish with cashews and green onions.

To make dressing: Add peanut butter and honey or agave to a medium microwave safe bowl; heat in microwave for 20 seconds. Add in ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, and both sesame and olive oil and stir until mixture is smooth and creamy. If you want a thinner dressing, simply stir in a teaspoon or two of water or olive oil. Add to quinoa.

Serve at room temperature with lime wedges if desired.

Risotto

I've discovered that I love risotto.  If it's on a menu, I will probably be ordering it (unless it has seafood).  It's not too difficult to make, just a bit time consuming.  Prepare everything before hand, so that you can stay at the stove stirring.  (And you can stop stirring for a minute every now and then, it won't hurt the dish.)  I've tried a few recipes, but the basics remain the same.  Feel free to substitute the veggies; mushrooms are good as well as asparagus or broccoli.  You want to think about the timing, and add them part way through the adding-the-broth part or they could get mushy.  Or cook separately and add at the end.

4 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
1/4 cup butter
1 tbsp olive oil
half an onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups risotto rice (arborio)
1/2 cup white wine
salt and pepper
1/4 red pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese


Heat the stock to simmering.  In a separate pan, melt 1/2 the butter.  Fry the onion, celery and garlic until the onion is soft but not browned. Add oil, then rice and stir until it is slightly translucent.  Add wine and keep stirring.  Add a ladleful of hot stock and stir at a simmer. you want to "massage" the broth into the rice, so push the back of the spoon (wooden is best) through.  Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring constantly until it is absorbed in to the rice before adding the next.  It will take at least 20 minutes, probably more like 30 to add all the stock.  The rice should be soft but still have a slight bite.  Remove form heat and stir in cheese, red pepper and seasonings.  Serve right away for the best taste, but it can be kept warm in a warm oven (covered) for a while and still be tasty.

We get our arborio rice from an Italian deli/store, but it is available in some of the bigger grocery stores.  I've never tried it with ordinary rice, but Italian cookbooks can give you more guidance on types of rice and their results.  You can get whole grain arborio, it will take longer to cook (and a bit more broth, maybe 5 cups)

Southwest Quinoa Salad

I am horrible at posting, obviously, but I finally have some inspiration. I just finished experimenting with a couple of recipes for a Southwest inspired quinoa salad. Quinoa is a grain that is being touted as the next great thing and is pronounced "keen-wa". It is an ancient grain and has protein in it, so it's great for vegetarians/vegans. My recipe does have some sour cream, but it could be omitted if you don't do dairy. It also should be gluten free, but I'm no expert on that. I plan to serve it tonight with some leftover chicken.

Southwest Quinoa Salad


- 1 cup of quinoa, soaked and rinsed
- 1/3 cup frozen corn (or fresh off the cob)
- 1/3 cup canned black beans -rinsed
- 2 chopped tomatoes
- 3 chopped green onions
- 3/4 cup chopped red, yellow and/or green peppers
- Sour cream-lime dressing
- one ripe avocado, chopped

Boil the quinoa with 2 cups of water for about 15 minutes, until all the water is absorbed. Let sit in the pot for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork. In a frying pan on high heat, heat the corn for 2-3 minutes to get it sort of "roasted", then lower the heat and add the black beans. When quinoa is ready, pour it into a bowl with the corn and beans, add the vegetables, dressing, and serve with chopped avocado (if you don’t mix it into the whole salad, the salad keeps better)

Sour cream-Lime Dressing

- juice of one lime
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1-2 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely minced
- 2 tablespoonfuls of sour cream
- dash of ground chipotle pepper (or other hot pepper) –to taste

Whisk all ingredients together and mix with salad.