We love quinoa in our house and I’m always trying out new ways to serve it up. This recipe, assuming you have dukkah at the ready, is delicious and straightforward to prepare. I love the nutty, crunchy, slightly spicy goodness of dukkah, it’s a staple in my pantry and it goes gorgeously with the quinoa in this recipe.
Serves 6-8 as a side salad
Ingredients
1 C quinoa (I used tri colour quinoa, which takes a little longer to cook – feel free to use the standard white variety)
2 C chicken stock (if you want this to be a vegetarian dish, just use water or vegetable stock)
1 1/2 C cooked (then cooled) brown rice
2 tlb dukkah + extra for sprinkling on top
100g feta cheese – cut into bite sized pieces (I used Bouton d’Or feta)
Handful chopped baby spinach leaves
Tomatoes (I used a couple of handfuls of halved cherry tomatoes)
1/2 cup fresh herbs (I used coriander)
2 tlb each: Toasted pumpkin seeds, toasted sunflower seeds, toasted sesame seeds (see tip at bottom of recipe)
Freshly ground black pepper and sea salt
- Cook the quinoa as per the instructions on the packet (I cook it in stock, not water, gives it extra flavour).
- Cook the brown rice as per the instructions on the back of the packet.
- After the rice and quinoa have cooked, tip both onto a large plate and spread them out to speed up the cooling down period.
- Once quinoa and brown rice has cooled, place them in a large serving bowl and mix them together with a large spoon. Add the brown rice, spinach leaves, 2 tlb dukkah, coriander, tomato and most of the pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds (reserve a few of each for garnish).
- Season to taste. Garnish with remaining dukkah and seeds (and even some fresh chopped chilli if you like it hot!)
* Optional – add some chopped spring onions and finely diced pepper/capsicum for an extra vege hit.
TIP: To ‘roast’ seeds (e.g. cumin, sunflower, pumpkin or sesame seeds) simply dry fry these (no oil necessary!) in a dry pan over a moderate heat, stirring constantly (these buggers burn fast).
