Quinoa Cake Stix for Blog Hop

Hello Friends,


Another week of Blog Hop, love it, get to try different blogs and different recipes. Please check out what all this is about.


So, this week, I am paired with Jabeen of Jabeen's Corner, who has this amazing blog and I wanted to try something different, out of my comfort zone. So, I chose these Quinoa Cake Stix recipe, which she had made during MAITRI event.

As I was browsing, it immediately caught my eye and I wanted to try it out. I used her recipe all the way to Ts and Dots. So, please hop on her blog to check out the recipe. I have to tell you, I wasn't disappointed. I had these yummy, delicious, full of banana flavor, soft bread. No one would ever imagine that it had quinoa in it. Great texture, simply superb. Give it a try !!!

Please do check what other blog hoppers are cooking.

That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Quinoa Dosa (Quinoa Savory Crepes)

Hello Friends,


I love the Tuesdays when I get to post bookmarked recipes as that means one less recipe in my list and one yummy recipe in a regular list that I make often at home.


This is one such recipe that I found in Denny's blog. Quinoa Dosa (Quinoa Savory Crepes) was a pleasant surprise for me. Honestly, I know you will think wow, but this is the first time I tried making proper dosa from scratch. I mean I make quick dosas like rava dosa and everything, but something which needs soaking of 8 hours, then grinding and fermenting of another 8 hours, is totally out of my league. I so do not have patience. But, after looking at the dosa picture in Denny's blog, I was prepped up to try and wanted to have this one as my first experiment.

Now, for someone who does not have wet grinder like me (like most South Indians usually have at their house), do not fret. You can easily do the grinding in regular mixed and/or food processor. I have Cuisinart food processor (My latest collection of appliances) and I used it successfully in making fine batter of the ingredients. 


Another thing, as I mentioned above, I don't make dosa/idli batter at home, so did not have Idli rice or parboiled rice that usually is used or even brown rice that Denny used. So, I went for my usual Sona Masoori varity of white rice and the dosa came absolutely fine, crispy. I could not tell the difference, but I am sure experts will be able to. But, for a novice like me, I was happy with my results :)


I used Denny's recipe as it is, so not going to repeat it further here. Please check the recipe here.


We had this dosa with Mango - Peanut - Cilantro Chutney, I posted in another post.


This goes to Bookmarked Recipes - Every Tuesday (Volume 44) event of Aipi and Mine.

That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Quinoa Pulao With Mixed Veggies

Hello friends,


Had a very busy weekend. Loved it to the core. And, of course the week starts with love Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day to All My Blog Readers. May you all have love in your lives forever.


Here is a very simply recipe which I tried after seeing may posts on Quinoa. I still need to experiment with this grain more. 


Quinoa Pulao with Mixed Veggies

Ingredients
Quinoa - 1 cup (soaked in water for an hour and drained)
Mix Veggied - 1 cup (I used frozen mix of peas, carrots, corn, green beans and lima beans)
Onion - 1/2 cup, finely chopped
Ginger - 1 inch piece, grated
Garlic - 4-5, minced or finely chopped
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 1tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Whole Spices
Black Cardamom - 1 piece
Cinnamon  - 1 inch stick
Bay Leaf - 1 or 2
Cloves - 3-4
Preparation

• Take a heavy bottomed pan. Add oil.
• Once oil is hot, add whole spices and heat for 10 seconds or till nice aroma comes.
• Add cumin and mustard seeds and let them splutter.
• Add finely chopped onion, ginger and garlic and cook till onion pieces are translucent.
• Add all veggies and mix well and fry for about 2 min.
• Add drained quinoa and all spice powders. Mix well and fry for another 2 minutes.
• Transfer it to a rice cooker or cook it in the same pan (as convenient to you) by adding double the amount of water (add 2 cups of water for 1 cup of quinoa).
• Cook it till quinoa and veggies are all cooked.
• Remove the whole spices before serving (they will usually float to the top) as you may not want to bite into it.

Serving
Serve it with any kind of raita (veggies in yogurt) or just plain yogurt. As the pulao is little spicy, this is the perfect combo. Enjoy it warm :)


Here are some of my other quinoa recipes.

• Dahi (Yogurt) Quinoa
• Quinoa with Apple - Raisin - Almond Salad
• Quinoa Dosa - Savory Quinoa Crepes

That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Dahi Quinoa (Quinoa with Yogurt) - Inspired by Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes

Hello Friends,


Here is a recipe that I had seen at Priya's blog and I have just change it slightly to suit my palette and what my husband and kids would like :)


I have only cooked once with Quinoa so far and loved the texture and everything about it. I sooooooooo want to experiment, but just being lazy. So, here was some leftover quinoa from my last bag and wanted to try this one out badly.


Dahi Quinoa (Quinoa with Yogurt)

Recipe Inspiration: Dahi Quinoa of Priya
Ingredients
Quinoa - 1 cup (raw)
Water - 2 cups
Dahi (Yogurt) - 1 cup
Cranberries or Dried Cherris - 1/4 cup or as per your liking, feel free to chop it, if you want to, I like mine just like that :)
Hari Mirch (Green Chilies) - finely chopped (or due to my little one, I avoid adding green chilies and just sprinkle equivalent quantity of red chili powder/cayenne pepper powder)
Roasted and Ground Cumin - 1 tsp
Chat Masala - 1 tsp
Cilantro - 1 tbsp (finely chopped)
Salt - as per your taste
Preparation

• Boil water in a heavy bottomed pan and add quinoa to it.
• Let it cook all the way. The indication of its cooking is that it all individual grains will have cute little tails and it will absorb all the water.
• Now, take cooked quinoa in a bowl and add all other ingredients to it, mix well and that's all.

Serving
Serve it chilled or hot (as you may like) as a snack or a nice side dish on lunch/dinner on any fine day. Feel free to customize it per your needs. It is basically to suit whatever you feel like adding in it :)


I am sending this one along with Quinoa with Apple - Raisin - Almond Salad to my own CWF - Quinoa event started by Kiran.

Please rush your entries to this event as well, as December 10th is the last date.


That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Quinoa and Apple - Raisin - Almond Salad

Hello Friends,


Lately, so many of you have been tempting and inspiring me, cooking with with Quinoa, that I had to cook with it and taste it. So, here is one of my very first quinoa recipe taken from "Family Fun" magazine (edition May 2010). I was reading at my son's math's class waiting room :)


If you want to kn ow more about Quinoa, please click on the word Quinoa. Source: Wikipedia.



Quinoa and Apple - Raisin - Almonds Salad

Ingredients
Quinoa - 1 cup
Water - 2 cups (to cook quinoa)
Diced Tart Apple - 1 cup
Toasted Almonds - 1/2 cup
Golden Raisins - 1/3 cup
Dressing
Honey - 2 tbsp
Lemon Juice - 1/4 cup
Olive oil - 3 tbsp
Salt and papper - as per taste
Preparation

• Take a heavy bottomed pan, heat water to cook quinoa and let it come to boil.
• Add quinoa, mix well, cover and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes.
• Let it cool down completely. 
• Meanwhile dice apples and toast almonds.
• Add raisins, apples, almonds to cooked and cooled quinoa.
• Refrigerate it till right before serving.
• Mix all the ingredients of dressing in a bowl.

Serving
Toss salad with dressing right before serving and serve it before any meal or enjoy it simply as an evening snack.


I had prepared it when one of my very good friends came for lunch yesterday. Even they had never tasted or actually even heard of quinoa. It was liked by all :)


One thing I forgot to mention above. You do not see any almonds in my picture because I had only little left and I burnt them while toasting them (I got distracted) :(


Thanks to all the blogging friends who introduced me to this grain.


I am sending this to Soup, Salad & Sammies Sundays event by DEBINHAWAII

 


I am also sending this to Innovative Salad # 2 - Fruits event.


That's all for now, take care till next post.