The perfect accompaniment to a pot of curry is either a heaping pile of rice or some sort of fried flat bread whose purpose is to assist you in shoveling heaping mounds of curry into your mouth. Don’t get me wrong, I love bread and rice but really try to keep consumption to a minimum. I am one of those weirdos who prefer to use properly prepared pseudo-grains like buckwheat, amaranth and quinoa in my kitchen. When it comes to wheat, rice, oats and even pseudo-grains, I try to limit my use as much as possible. I get more than enough grains in liquid form via beer, one of my great loves.
This swap-out approach has backfired on me more than a few times. For example, trying to make a “healthy” version of chocolate cake with whole spelt flour and date sugar was a near disaster. I have learned that it’s best just to have an occasional bite of the “real deal” and skip out on some of these alternative preparations that taste like crap.
There are times, however, when you can easily replace one ingredient for another with great success. Swapping out rice for quinoa, a pseudo-grain closely related to beets and spinach, for has worked out well for me in the past. I really enjoy quinoa, which has that chewy bite you’re looking for with cooked grains and is also a complete protein. When I was looking for something to accompany my Quick Chicken Curry I found a recipe for Geel Rys, which is a South African preparation of Yellow Rice. This recipe for yellow rice from The Africa News Cookbook is really different from the standard Spanish approach and was the perfect side dish for my pot of curry. The list of ingredients was pretty short and I just swapped out the rice for quinoa, out one-for-one. Here’s the recipe I used:
4 tablespoons oil or butter
2 cups quinoa (or rice, if you prefer)
2 sticks cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
pinch of saffron (optional)
1 cup goji berries (or raisins)
This recipe can be made in a pot on the stove but I have always had great luck cooking quinoa in my rice cooker! It’s very little hassle and it can stay warm while you get the rest of your meal ready. If you are looking for a rice cooker, my recommendation is to find one with a stainless steel insert, rather than aluminum or non-stick. There are some food safety issues with both of those materials and stainless steel last much longer, anyway. If you aren’t interested in using a rice cooker, or don’t currently have one, just prepare this recipe on the stove. No problem!
Some people have gastric upset when eating grains. Quinoa, in particular, has a high saponin content which causes the grain to taste bitter and can upset your stomach. The traditional Peruvian preparation calls for a long soak in warm water, followed by a thorough rinsing to remove the antinutrients. Sometimes I do this, but generally I just give the quinoa a good rinse under running water. If you have a storied history with grains (pseudo or otherwise), I’d say give the traditional soak method a try.
In a pot over medium heat, or in your rice cooker, add the fat of your choice. I used ghee, but you can easily use a vegetable oil or skip out on it all together. Add the quinoa and mix thoroughly.
Once all of the quinoa is well coated with the fat, you can add the remaining ingredients. The recipe called for raisins, but I absolutely abhor raisins unless they are cooked in cinnamon bread. I used Goji berries instead. I actually don’t really care the the taste of Goji berries out of hand but they were perfect in this dish. Plus, Goji berries are the darling of the health food world. Often referred to as a super food, for what it’s worth.
Combine all of the ingredients, add 2 cups of water and start up your rice cooker. If you are cooking on the stove, bring to a boil, cover and then reduce the heat to simmer.
After about 20 minutes, once all of the water is absorbed, your quinoa will be done! The quinoa will be tender but not mushy and the Goji berries will have plumped up. Give it a good stir and serve (hopefully with a delicious serving of Quick Chicken Curry)!
I really enjoyed this new quinoa recipe and it was every bit as satisfying as the rice that typically accompanies curry dishes. This South African-spiced quinoa worked really well with the spicy curry I made but would be great enjoyed with lots of other dishes. One thing I would recommend is to remove the cinnamon sticks once it’s done cooking, especially if you plan to keep it warm in your rice cooker. I came back the next morning to a heaping pile of cinnamon flavored quinoa. Still tasty, but more along the lines of something I’d eat for breakfast.
Another tasty recipe down! Only 90 more to go.
100 First Tastes 