A Lot of Vowels: Jalapeno Quinoa

Today’s recipe is once again from Alicia Ambroso, aka Ali the Runner.  I follow Alicia on Twitter, and she is a great source of food inspiration, workout motivation, and old school tunes.  She also writes a great blog which is well worth a read.  And she’s doing a marathon this year for TNT (Leukaemia and Lymphoma) and as you know, anyone who does sport for charity is just top in my books!

Alicia shared with us her chicken enchilada recipe in September, and it was a huge hit in my house (we ate it watching football aka soccer).  And I can report that this recipe for jalapeno quinoa was another hit!

This is the first time I have made quinoa so I didn’t know what to expect.  My husband didn’t know how to pronounce it either (for the record, it is keen-wa).  I thought the consistency of my quinoa would have been a bit fluffier, but I didn’t achieve that – it was more like a combination of sticky rice/fluffy couscous.  I wonder if that was due to cooking with stock, or maybe even over cooking the grain. 

I took it easy on the chilis.  Our chilis recently have been super hot.  So I used one from a type labeled “green – not too hot not too mild”.  They didn’t have jalapenos on the Ocado drop down list so that was my only option.  One was a good amount for taste – I could’ve used two for more heat, but DH is not always a fan of spicy.  My recommendation:  use the amount of green chili that you feel comfortable with, to taste. 

When you sweat (saute) the chili, garlic and onion the smell of the Mexican spiciness is just so awesome.  I was so excited to try it…

And… It did not disappoint.  Consistency questions or not, the dish was delicious.  Two thumbs up from DH on this!

Alicia told me that her husband puts a little cheese on his, but that she didn’t.  She serves hers with carne asada, sauteed zucchini (courgettes) and guacamole.  That just sounds unbelievably good to me.  We served ours with grilled lamb chops and a little gem lettuce salad.  It was a big hit. 

I hope you enjoy it, and many thanks to Ali the Runner for sharing!

Jalapeno Quinoa

1 cup quinoa
2 cups stock (I used vegetable, but depending on the meat you serve you could use beef or chicken as well)
1 small onion, diced
4 jalapenos, seeks removed and diced (note – I used one medium sized medium hot chili and it was plenty – chili to taste)
1 shallot, peeled and diced
1/2 clove garlic (or 1 small clove garlic) – small dice
3 tablespoons olive oil for sweating the onion/shallot/chili/garlic (I used butter)
salt to taste (I did not add salt to cooking as I prefer to add after cooking)

Instructions

1.  Bring stock to boil
2.  Add quinoa

(note: my quinoa pack said to rinse first, so I did, then added it to the hot stock)

3.  Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer.

4.  Sautee jalapenos, onions, garlic and shallot in olive oil until onions transparent

(note: I used all my shallots making Thai green curry paste, so only used onions, it is still good without the shallots)

5.  Add sauteed mix to the quinoa, which is about halfway done by this point.

6.  Add a bit of water to quinoa (1/4 cup) and bring back to boil.

7.  Reduce heat and simmer until all liquid absorbed.

8.  Serve and enjoy!

Note – I am missing the picture of the finished dish as my iPhone was on video mode – will add it later once I figure out how to extract a good still!