Quinoa Base Recipe
Cooking out of your pantry? Quinoa is a great place to start. Quinoa is thought of as a grain, however it is actually a seed – a very nutritious and versatile seed at that! Quinoa contains a complete protein, which means it has all of the protein components our body needs without combining it with other foods. Quinoa is cheap, pantry-stable, and a great base to create a meal around. Here quinoa is paired with other Latin American staples that can be changed up to create a main course salad or stuffing for your favorite vegetable and baked.
Yield: 4 servings (1 ½ cups each)
Time: 5 minutes prep, 20 minutes cook, and 5 minutes rest
Excellent source of: fiber, thiamine, vitamin B6, folate, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium
Good source of: riboflavin, choline, zinc
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin seed (optional)
1 cup quinoa (rinse it if not pre-rinsed)
1 ½ cups water
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup frozen corn
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
Procedure:
Warm the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cumin, and sauté until fragrant, about one minute. Add quinoa and cook, stirring for one minute. Add water and salt. Stir well. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer. Cook for 15 minutes. Add corn and beans, stir, turn off the heat and let sit, covered about 5 minutes.
Nutrition Facts for base recipe:
Per Serving (1 ½ cups): 381 calories; 7 g fat; 0.9 g saturated fat; 65.7 g carbohydrate; 15.6 g dietary fiber; 5.3 g sugars; 16.2 g protein; 564.8 mg sodium.
28.9% thiamine, 14.1% riboflavin, 21.8% vitamin B6, 16% choline, 61.5% folate, 25.9% copper, 28.1% iron, 39.2% magnesium, 77.5% manganese, 39.1% phosphorus, 22.8% potassium, 18.4% zinc
*% DV tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice
Make It Your Own!
Include a hearty vegetable and/or a tender vegetable to the base recipe:
Add a hearty vegetable when you add the water to the base recipe. Use 1 cup of ½” cubed sweet potato, winter squash (like butternut or delicta), potatoes, or carrots.
Stir in a tender vegetable after the quinoa has cooked for 10 minutes. Add 1 cup diced or roughly chopped zucchini, yellow squash, chard, spinach, or chayote squash. Continue cooking in accordance with the base recipe.
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