Recipe: Yummy Yummy Quinoa

I feel that I couldn't really call this anything except a 'yummy yummy' quinoa recipe because to be honest, it's one of those 'recipes' where you can put pretty much whatever ingredients you want in it and it will generally turn out.. well, yummy yummy.  I think once you've mastered a basic one-pot quinoa dish, you can master them all and there's so many different flavour combos I love - although the one below is definitely my fave at the moment. 

I discovered quinoa a while back, coincidentally shortly after I discovered that my body can't really cope with me eating delicious white wheaty things like bread and pasta more than about once a fortnight without me turning into a human floatation device (sorry if TMI).  The good thing about quinoa is that it's a grain so it's wheat and gluten free, super easy to digest and is also high in fibre and protein.  Beautiful. 

 Ingredients (a rough guide for 4 portions)

160g quinoa 

2-3tbsp olive oil

1 chicken or veg stock cube

A few florets of broccoli

1 courgette

1 leek

1 red onion

1 clove of garlic

5 mushrooms

2-3 chicken breasts

Seasoning: your choice - I like paprika and dried coriander for the 

chicken and lemon juice for the rest of it.

 

Rocket salad, fresh tomatoes and Greek feta to serve.

1) Immediately after taking this photo I realised there was probably no way of making raw chicken ever look particularly attractive.  So here are, in all their unaesthetic glory, my 3 small chicken breasts.  Season with salt, pepper, paprika and dried coriander and bake at 200 for around 30 minutes or until cooked and tender (you know the deal). 

2) While you're chicken's doing it's thing, you can crack on with the rest of the prep.  Chop your veggies finely and cook them in a large frying pan with the oil.  Start with the broccoli, garlic and onion, frying gently until beginning to soften, then add in the leek, courgette and mushrooms.  This should all take around 8-10 minutes in total.

3) Boil around 800ml of water in a large saucepan and add in your stock cube (this is what makes the quinoa all flavoursome and yummy yummy).  Pour in the quinoa and cook for 15-18 minutes, or until all the water has just been absorbed, stirring occasionally.

4) Once your quinoa is almost done, you can prepare your chicken (which should be looking a lot more appetising by now).  I like to shred the chicken using two forks, but everyone probably has a different method - go with what you like.  Also if you don't eat meat, tuna or salmon is great with quinoa.

5) Hopefully by this time your quinoa should be done and looking nice and fluffy.  The next bit is pretty simple really: chuck everything into the pot with the quinoa and stir, adding lemon juice. 

6) Serve up with a crumbling of feta over the top, fresh rocket salad and big red tomatoes!  This is so delicious cold as well - the perfect summer salad.

If anyone makes this recipe or has some ingredient combo suggestions, leave me a comment below and let me know your thoughts...  Thanks for reading as always, and happy quinoa-ing!

Ruby x

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