Friday, May 6, 2011

Curried Quinoa with Chickpeas & Almonds

Posted by Erin Wilburn / 11 comments » / quinoa, vegetarian

I promised I’d share with y’all the pro photos from our wedding day, and they’re in!  Scroll down below the recipe to see the links.

Let me apologize for posting the same photo for this quinoa post as I did with the Indian Spiced Chicken.  I only took photos of the two together, not thinking that I’d probably want to post seperate photos.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I chose the chicken recipe after I chose the quinoa recipe.  This recipe instantly appealed to me from the moment I saw it.  You may have noticed I’ve been on a curry kick.  And I have professed my love of quinoa many times.  So my friends, this means this recipe is quite a winning pairing of  ingredients in my book.  This wasn’t the quickest or easiest recipe, but it was far from difficult.  The fact that it calls for frozen peas & carrots, means the only work I really had to do was chop the onion & zest the orange.  It was originally meant to be a light main dish, but I know Nathan rarely gets full from dinner if there isn’t an animal protein involved.  Thus, I chose to combine the quinoa with the chicken.  That way, there would be more of the quinoa to go around, and hopefully leftover for lunch!

To say I loved this dish would be an understatement.  I made it again a mere two days later.  I loved the spice of the curry, the sweetness of the raisins, and extra flavor kick from the zest.  MmmmMmmMmmm… Filling, healthy, and delicious.  Seriously, make this, you will not be disappointed!

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Curried Quinoa with Chickpeas & Almonds

Ingredients:

1/2 cup(s) quinoa
1/2 cup(s) orange juice
1/2 cup(s) water
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
3/4 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp olive oil
1 small onion(s), chopped
1 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), minced
1/2 cup(s) cooked frozen peas and carrots, thawed
5 oz canned chickpeas, (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
2 Tbsp sliced almonds, toasted
1/8 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1/4 cup(s) golden seedless raisins
2 medium scallion(s), chopped
1 Tbsp cilantro, fresh, chopped
1 tsp orange zest, grated

Directions:

Combine the quinoa, orange juice, water, curry powder, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, the cumin, and allspice in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the liquid is absorbed, 12–15 minutes.

Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, and peas and carrots; cook, stirring frequently, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the chickpeas and almonds; cook, stirring, about 2 minutes longer. Remove the skillet from the heat, then stir in the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and the pepper.

Transfer the quinoa mixture to a large bowl. Stir in the raisins, scallions, cilantro, and orange zest; toss well. Stir in the chickpea mixture and serve at once or let the mixture cool to room temperature before serving. Yields 1 1/3 cup per serving.

from Weight Watchers

Wedding Pics, whoot whoot!  We had SO.MUCH.FUN taking pictures with our photographer.  Everyone keeps commenting that the pictures really captured our personality & style, so feel free to take a peek!  Here’s her Facebook album with a selection of the photos, and her blog post with a slideshow.