Quinoa-Basmati Pilaf

Some months back, I learnt from a colleague about a wholesome grain called Quinoa. It is supposed to be ‘healthy’ and was being eaten by my colleague instead of rice. Also, quinoa is in vogue these days at the supermarkets. The avid Bengali rice-lover (who needs atleast one meal with rice a day) started wondering, “Will I ever be able to substitute my rice with anything?”

On reaching home, I quickly sought information on Quinoa on Wikipedia.  I learnt that Quinoa is high in nutritional value and is a great source of amino acids as well as dietary fibre. It comes originally from South America and so on.

I was curious enough to buy the whole grain the same day at Whole Foods, but it had been lying in the pantry for a while… until last week when I finally mustered up enough enthusiasm to make this and present before my family. My first goal was to make it palatable, so I decided to make a spicy pilaf with it. I did not want to give up entirely on my rice yet, so used a mixture of Quinoa and Basmati rice for this recipe.

Ingredients:

Basmati  rice – 1cup (washed & drained)

Quinoa – 0.5 cup (washed & microwaved in 3 cups water for 15 minutes).

Bay leaf – 1

Cinnamon bark – 2-3”

Curry leaves – few (dried)

Cloves – 2-3

Mustard seeds black – a pinch

Onions chopped – 0.5 (medium)

Peas – half cup

Baby carrots (diced) – 3

French beans (diced) – 4

White mushrooms (diced) – 5

Ghee & olive oil

Salt & sugar to taste

Paprika & turmeric as required

I used some julienned onion slices and fried them first, which I set aside. Then, I heated about 2tbsp of olive oil & added the curry leaves and the whole spices( mustard seeds, cinnamon, bay leaf, clove). To that, I added the onions & vegetables and sautéed it for about 7 minutes. Next I added the turmeric and paprika (about a pinch each), and fried the basmati rice along for about 2 more minutes. To this , I added the rest of the ingredients and about  2.5 cups water and cooked it covered on stoptop. Topped it with ghee and the pilaf was ready. My recommendation would be to watch the quantity of water – add 2 cups first and see if more is required.  You don’t want a soggy pilaf. Garnish with the fried onions.

This went well with some fried fish, although I must say, just for the adults in the family.  The toddler went into throwing a fit that day and I later discovered it had nothing to do with my newly created recipe. “Don’t feel bad, poor pilaf…If you haven’t figured out yet, kids are unpredictable when it comes to eating and you can’t always rationalize. The trick is to stop blaming youself.”  :)