Quinoa With Latin Flavors

photo by noriminicilli





- Ready In:
- 35mins
- Ingredients:
- 11
- Yields:
-
2/3 cup
- Serves:
- 6
ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 teaspoons canola oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (14 ounce) can reduced-sodium chicken broth or (14 ounce) can vegetable broth
- 1⁄4 cup pepitas, toasted (see Note)
- 3⁄4 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
- 1⁄2 cup scallion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
directions
- Heat a large dry skillet over medium heat and add quinoa, stirring to toast, until it crackles and becomes a bit brownish and aromatic. Transfer to a fine sieve and rinse under cold running water. Drain.
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, stirring often, about 2 or 3 minutes. Add chiles and garlic. Cook stirring for 30 seconds.
- Add the quinoa and broth to the onion mixture. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer, cover and cook until the quinoa is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed, about 20 to 25 minutes.
- Add toasted pepitas, cilantro, scallions, lime juice and salt to the quinoa. Fluff with a fork and stir gently to mix.
- NOTE: Pepitas are hulled pumpkin seeds. They are somewhat green and may be found in health-food stores or Latin markets. If you can't find pepitas, I suppose shelled raw sunflower kernels would be a good substitute in this recipe.
- NOTE: To toast nuts, heat a small skillet over medium heat. Put nuts in the dry pan and stir or toss/flip constantly, until nuts just begin to darken a bit and become aromatic. It's easy to go from brown to burnt really quickly, so keep an eye on them. When done, remove from the heat quickly and put into a different dish that is cool.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
I live in Los Angeles County. Married 25 years. 3 kids ages 24, 21 and 12. I'm a math professor and a computer tech. The picture above is me running in the Los Angeles Marathon (the first time I did it) on March 4, 2007. I'm smiling because the picture was taken at mile 3. I wasn't smiling by the end. LOL. I've since done the Long Beach Marathon in Oct. 2007 and I did L.A. again in March 2008. The third time was the trick. I finally had a good race and I qualified to run the Boston Marathon which I did in April 2009. Now I'm into triathlon, since summer 2009.
Besides cooking/baking I've recently started knitting again (Jan. 2008) and can be found at Ravelry.com most days.
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