Recipe: Red Quinoa and Chickpeas

Posted on | February 20, 2009 | 4 Comments

i can’t believe i forgot to post about this! it was really good and even made use of another recipe that we made a few days prior. always fun to recycle food, so to speak.

on a recent trip to whole foods, i found a box of red quinoa and decided that we just had to try it. i mean, it’s red! and i don’t get to eat much red food these days.

i had wanted to have one meal this week with chickpeas, but wasn’t sure how to do that. and then i happened upon a recipe in veganomicon that was eerily perfect: chickpea quinoa pilaf.

of course, i also had to tweak the recipe. and not because of the usual culprits [nightshade and dairy]. we actually didn’t have some of the ingredients in the house!

here’s what i came up with:

Red Quinoa and Chickpeas

ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small red onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • fresh ground pepper, to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup red quinoa (rinsed well)
  • 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1-2 cups nightshade free peach mango salsa

directions:

  1. in a pot over medium heat, saute the onions in olive oil for about 7 minutes. add the garlic and saute for 2 more minutes.
  2. add black pepper, and salt; saute for another minute.
  3. add the quinoa and saute for 2 minutes.
  4. add the chickpeas and broth; cover and bring to a boil.
  5. once the mixture is boiling, lower the heat to very low, cover, and cook for about 18 minutes, or until the quinoa has absorbed all the water; stir occasionally.
  6. add in nightshade free peach mango salsa and cook for 5 minutes more.

notes:

i actually added the nightshade free peach mango salsa in with the vegetable broth. it took double the time to cook because of the added liquid and removed most of the yummy flavor from the salsa. but, if you want to have the flavor be a bit more subtle, add it with the broth.

be careful when using vegetable broth if you have a nightshade intolerance. most have some form of nightshade in them {tomato, pepper, potato starch} so it can be difficult to find. i like the whole foods 365 brand vegetable broth.

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Category: recipe, vegan, vegetarian

Comments

4 Responses to “Recipe: Red Quinoa and Chickpeas”

  1. Paige
    February 20th, 2009 @ 10:53 pm

    I have still, to this day, never had quinoa. I’ve been meaning to try it, but I’m really hesitant to do so because I’m not much of a cook, so I need a super basic recipe to get started.

    You have inspired me, though, so maybe I’ll research. Does your local grocery store carry quinoa, or do you hunt it out in a health/natural food store? I know I’ve seen it in the latter, but I’m not sure about an average store.

  2. Leora
    March 17th, 2009 @ 10:55 am

    Looks like a good one to try! I have no hopes that my kids will try it, but maybe I can coerce my husband into having it as part of a meal.

    I’ll probably find some substitute for using a store bought vegetable broth. I like food where I know exactly what is in it. Maybe I’ll just use water and add other spices or flavorings.

    The mango peach salsa was recommended by some friends a while back, when I wrote about stuffing an acorn squash.

    Thanks!

  3. Reluctant Veggie
    March 17th, 2009 @ 11:04 am

    you can easily make your own vegetable broth and use whatever veggies you have laying around! i use organic broth and have to be careful with what is in it because of my food intolerances.

    if you are not using the broth, it will not have as strong of a flavor. the first time we made quinoa, we didn’t use broth or anything in while it was cooking and it came out a little bland.

  4. The Reluctant Vegetarian
    May 1st, 2009 @ 7:19 pm

    [...] decided to revisit this recipe after a long hiatus without it [we actually found other quinoa recipes that we enjoyed too]. turns out there were a few nightshades [chili pepper, bell [...]

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