Category Archives: quinoa

Recipe: Yotam Ottolenghi’s sweet potato and quinoa fritters

Posted on by

You can play around with the veg in these, swapping carrots, pumpkin or butternut squash for the potatoes, if you like. Whatever you use, though, don’t leave the fritter mix sitting around for too long once it’s made, otherwise it will go soggy. These are best eaten straight after baking, but they are also good warmed up in a low oven a few hours later, or even the next day.

Prep 10 min
Cook 25 min
Makes 16

30g black quinoa
1-2 sweet potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated to get 250g
2 small baking potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated to get 250g
1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
25g picked coriander leaves, roughly chopped
75g plain flour
2 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground cumin
Salt and black pepper
400ml sunflower oil
2 limes, cut into wedges, to serve

Cook the quinoa in plenty of boiling water for 10 minutes, until it is cooked but still has bite. Leave to drain in a sieve, then pat dry to remove as much liquid as possible.

Put both potatoes, the onion, coriander and quinoa in a large bowl and mix well to combine.

In a small bowl, whisk together both flours, the spices, a teaspoon and three-quarters of salt and a good grind of pepper. Slowly whisk in 100ml cold water, until you have a smooth batter.

Heat the oil in a medium saute pan on a medium-high flame.

Tip the batter into the vegetable bowl and mix together well. Using your hands, form the fritter mix into golf ball-sized portions weighing about 50g each, squeezing them very tightly to compact them and extract most of the liquid. Cook the fritters in batches, so as not to overcrowd the pan: carefully drop three or four balls into the hot oil and fry for about four minutes in total, turning them once halfway, until golden-brown and cooked through, then transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper (if the fritters start browning too quickly, adjust the temperature of the oil as you go). Serve hot with the lime wedges alongside.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jul/28/yotam-ottolenghi-party-recipes

Quinoa and pecan salad

Posted on by

When SheWhoMustBeFed and I first started eating quinoa, many moons ago, we had never heard it pronounced, only read it. So for an embarrassingly long period of time we pronounced it “kwin-oh-a”. I can’t recall whether our verbal fumblings were ever met with a knowingly condescending smile; probably not as it wasn’t anywhere near as popular as it is now, so in all likelihood we never came across anyone who knew any better than we did. At some point we learned of our mistake and in a scene earily prescient of this we said to each other “Oh, it’s kinwah, not kwin-oh-a. Honestly being vegan is a nightmare. It’s no wonder we don’t have any friends.”

Now of course we are infinitely cleverer and wiser than before, because not only do we know how to pronounce quinoa, we also know that cranberries aren’t meant to be sweet. For a time we lived in that wide, wild and wacky land The Yoonited States of A-merica where cranberries are always sweet, and cranberry juice tastes like a large bottle of deeply purple sugar. In actual fact drinking a glass of natural, unadulterated cranberry juice has an affect something like sticking the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner into your mouth. All the spit in your mouth will instantly disappear, your cheeks will suck in tight, and once you’ve managed again to draw breath you will say “Well, that was a little sourer than I expected.” In this recipe, try to use dried unsweetened cranberries if you can get them. Sweetened works OK, but in our humble (cleverer and wiser) opinion, the tartness of dried, unsweetened cranberries will do it more justice.

Credit: This recipe came from elsewhere. I’d like to say where, but all I can tell you is that it has been cut out of a magazine and stuck into SheWhoMustBeFed’s recipe scrapbook. It was probably an American magazine, as the recipe called for “cilantro” as opposed to “coriander”. So, credit to the original creator and also the publisher of the magazine which printed it on a green page sometime.

Ingredients ((ɪnˈɡriːdɪənts):

  • 3 1/2 cups of water
  • 1 1/2 cups of quinoa
  • 1 bunch shallots, finely sliced
  • 1/2 cup of dried cranberries
  • 1/3 cup of coriander
  • 3/4 cup of finely sliced celery
  • 3/4 cup of coarsely chopped pecans
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • salt and coarsely ground pepper to taste
  • pinch cayenne pepper

Method (meTHəd):

  • Boil the water, add the quinoa, stir and reduce heat. Simmer, covered, until all the water is absorbed and the quinoa is soft (approx. 25 minutes, but keep an eye on it)
  • Lightly toast the pecans
  • Once the quinoa is cooked, allow to cool to room temperature, then combine everything except for the pecans in a large serving bowl.
  • Ideally, allow to sit and stew for an hour before serving at room temperature. Stir the pecans through just before serving so they are still a bit crunchy.