Curried Quinoa Salad

In the mood for something healthy that won't leave you starving (or groaning) when you're done? You're looking for quinoa. It is an amazing grain that is loaded with protein, easy to make, delicious and satisfying. Quinoa cooks just like rice, has a soft texture when cooked, and is neutral in flavor. The USDA National Nutrient Database says that 1 cup of cooked quinoa contains 8.14 grams of protein, 5.2 grams of dietary fiber, and a variety of other nutrients. 

It happens to be my humble opinion that people need to incorporate more vegetable-oriented meals into their diets. I am not advocating becoming a vegetarian - I love meat too much for that. Rather, my point is simply that protein doesn't need to be the main component of a meal, or necessarily take the form of meat. Quinoa is an easy, and typically palatable, starting point for those who are hardcore carnivores. 

To be perfectly honest, I stumbled upon this recipe tonight and hardly followed the original recipe. Turns out I wasn't able to wait for the quinoa to cool before I ate it, and it was delicious warm - I'm sure it's great as a cold salad, but I haven't tried it yet.

Curried Quinoa Salad

Ingredients 

1 cup dry quinoa

2 cups water

2 tsp Chicken stock base*

½ tsp curry powder

pinch salt

¼ cup canola oil (or EVOO)

2 T. white wine vinegar

2 T. mango chutney, chopped if chunky

2½  tsp curry powder

1tsp prepared mustard

a sprinkle of cayenne pepper

(1 cup chopped peeled mango)

1 cup peeled and diced cucumber

1 bunch green onions, sliced

Method

To make the quinoa, add the quinoa, curry powder, and stock base into the pot, and put over medium heat. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn, and that the stock base becomes soft, and melts into the quinoa. Once you can smell the curry, add the water and salt; give it a stir. Turn the heat to high, and bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, put a lid on and turn the heat to low and set the timer for 15 minutes. This process is like cooking rice – you’re steaming the quinoa, so don’t lift the lid to peak. There may be some extra liquid at the end, but that’s ok. Just turn the heat up to medium and cook it off. (happens to me all the time)

Meanwhile, in a bowl large enough to hold all of the quinoa, add the mango chutney, vinegar, mustard, and curry powder, and whisk to combine. Whisking vigorously, add the oil slowly until the dressing is combined. When the quinoa is cooked, add it to the bowl with the dressing, and stir to combine. Add a sprinkle of cayenne and salt to taste. Let cool. Once cool, add the diced cucumber and scallions.

The quinoa is very good still warm with the cucumber and green onion on top. (Which is how I had it for dinner)

The original recipe called for adding diced mango to the salad – I didn’t try it because I couldn't find it at the store tonight. It also called for serving the quinoa on top of spinach, which I did – not great. Might be better with a yogurt dressing – like an Indian raita – over the whole salad if you use the spinach.

Adapted from Epicurious.com on 1/3/11; available at www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Curried-Quinoa-Salad-with-Mango-232544

* Chicken stock base is a kitchen staple - you can find it in all grocery stores by the packaged stocks/broths.  The link is to the Better Than Bullion brand, which is what I use. It's great because you'll always have as much, or as little, stock as you need.

The Dinner Party

Mom's birthday dinner party, which was a month ago today (yikes), turned out great - lots of friends, food, and even more wine. Above is the menu that my enormously talented sister, Samantha, created. It has become a tradition that every time there is company for dinner at our house (read as: on holidays and Mom's birthday dinner), Samantha makes a menu that is displayed in a frame.

There were 9 guests for dinner, all women, who arrived at 6:30 that night. I began cooking at 10:00 a.m. and finished at 6:29 pm. Totally worth every moment; I spent most of my day trying to keep my mom out of the kitchen because she was the guest of honor, but when it came to making the pasta and then the agnolotti, my "go-go gadget arm" was broken. Her help was invaluable. Even more important was my Dad who was the best sous chef - prepped, cleaned; we all felt a little bad when he went into his office to watch the Brewers game and left us women to our devices.

So how about the food? Let's see. I was quite happy with the way the dishes came out, except for the agnolotti. Agnolotti is another word for ravioli - a filled pasta - referring the shape of the final product. I really made ravioli, but when Samantha put together the menu, I intended to make agnolotti, which are likened to a priest's hat. So, in an effort to make truly authentic ravioli, I rolled the pasta very thin, so thin you could see you hand through it. I even managed to keep it in one piece. Well, when I served the perfectly cooked pasta, all of the filling had come out in the water - my ravioli's popped! There were two blessings in this crappy situation: 1) I didn't realize it until the dish was platted and served; 2) There was a fresh pesto sauce on there, so it was still not bad; and 3) no one said anything. Man was I mad. I had invented the best friggin cheese filling. I used Mascarpone cheese as the base for its creamyness, freshly grated Parmesan and Ramano cheeses, then some grated garlic, salt, pepper - I know it was good because we made three tester ravioli that day.