I am not a big fan of contests on social media. Most of the time, I don't even know when they are happening and my whole TL erupts when I do know of one that is unfolding. It's annoying. But this was none of those things. I had a busy day, I checked Twitter just once and replied to a tweet and RTed a tweet by BPB Mumbai. Oh, and I followed Olive Tree Trading Co - because I had seen their website a bunch of times and although they have select inventory, they have some fabulous gourmet products lined up.
And not just one kind of quinoa, I got three different kinds - all organic, goes without saying that it's prewashed and vegan - white, red and black. Interesting. Now, I have gotten quinoa home only once and incorporated it into a bunch of dishes replacing rice or bulgur before. I decided this would be a great opportunity to try other things out. I still played safe and first opened up the white quinoa, which I am familiar with.
SO I made a quick fix quinoa salad. I like salad but we don't really do them at home very much. I'd probably eat a salad when I am dining out and mostly, it'd become the entire meal for me. This happened because the man said he'd come home late and would probably not have the capacity for a proper dinner. Out came quinoa.
Quinoa is easy to cook. And gets ready pretty quick too. And you can try different things with it - I am planning to do patties, a cake, even a shake. But for now, here's the salad I made and we have already made this two more times. Good stuff. Make it.
Name: Quick Fix Veggies & Cottage Cheese Quinoa Salad Recipe
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Recipe Source: Me
Serves: 2
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Recipe Source: Me
Serves: 2
You need:
For the quinoa:
3/4 cup of quinoa (it's going to triple up so it should suffice for two people)
2 X 3/4 cups of water (quinoa needs to be boiled with water, 1:2 ratio)
1 vegetable stock cube (salt reduced)
A few shallots, quartered
A few cloves of garlic, smashed
A dash of red chilli flakes
Dash of salt
For the veggies:
1 carrot diced
1 beetroot diced
1/2 cup peas
For the cottage cheese:
100 gms of fresh cottage cheese
1 cup of boiling water
Salt
For the dressing:
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon, juiced
Zest of a lemon
1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper, coarsely ground
1 tsp sea salt
For the garnish:
Fresh Italian basil
Here's how you make it:
- I know the list of ingredients looks like a lot but it isn't. And in all probability, quinoa is the only fancypants ingredient in that list, the rest of it we all have in our pantry at most times.
- In a saucepan, add the water and quinoa, stock cube, some salt, shallots and garlic, chilli flakes to boil. Medium flame, covered. The quinoa will soak up all the water and become fluffy, blossomed. Keep it aside.
- While the quinoa boils, get a steamer ready and steam the beets, carrots, peas. They should take about 5-7 minutes to get ready but not mushy.
- Soak the cottage cheese in boiling water with some salt - this will season and soften it. Crumble up the cottage cheese and keep aside.
- Put all the ingredients for the dressing in a cup and mix well.
- Toss the quinoa fluffy with a fork, add the veggies, cottage cheese, dressing and give everything a gentle toss. Top with julienned fresh basil leaves. Serve warm. Or cold. Tastes great both ways.
PS:
- Always buy quinoa prewashed. If it isn't, you are going to lose sleep getting rid of the bitter saponin.
- Always store quinoa in the freezer - our climate doesn't work too well for this superfood seed with very high protein content and it can do rancid if left outside. If you eat rancid quinoa, you will suffer from excruciatingly painful food poisoning. Don't say I did not warn you.
- You can use Massels Veg Stock Cubes. If you do not find that, grab one of Maggi's Magic Cubes (Veg) or just use fresh stock if you are one of those people.
- You can top that salad with a fried egg if you want but there is only so much protein I can digest at one time.
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