With hubby in diet mode, we have been consuming lot of quinoa lately. Mostly we have it instead of rice with regular South Indian fixings. He recently had a lentil quinoa salad and a lunch meeting lately and was going on and on about how good it was, so I thought of giving that combination a try. With the cold weather, I didn't want to make a salad for us, so I made it up like a stir-fry or almost like a fried rice method with the lentils and quinoa. This was very good and filling as well. The recipe is very simple and the assembly takes around 5 minutes if you have cut veggies on hand. This is also an ideal lunch box recipe if you are watching your diet.
Ingredients:
1. Quinoa, 1 cup, washed well.
2. Brown lentils or whole masoor dhal, 1/2, washed well parboiled. I cooked them in the microwave for 10 minutes.
3. Mixed vegetables like carrots, cabbage, green beans, bell peppers etc, cut into small pieces, 1 cup.
4. Ginger-garlic paste, 1/2 teaspoon.
5. Chili powder or sambar powder, 1 teaspoon.
6. Fennel seeds, 1/2 teaspoon.
7. Turmeric powder, 1/4 teaspoon.
8. Salt, as per taste.
Preparation:
Add all the ingredients in a rice cooker or pot with 1-1/4 cups of water, mix it up, and let it come to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the flames let it simmer until the quinoa is cooked and the water is all absorbed. Fluff it up with a fork and serve. If using a rice cooker, just use the rice mode and let it do its thing.
