Quinoa and other great flavors

Peru is chockful of good things - Macchu Picchu, Cuzco, Nazca, pisco ... and quinoa! And tonight was time for a quinoa pilaf - simple, yet delectable.

After the usual ritual of rinsing the quinoa several times in cold water (the grains have a bitter coating called saponin that can often irritate the stomach lining and needs to be washed off), I cooked it in a pot of water with some salt and a few drops of olive oil. As I poked around trying to find some veggies to go with it, I found this jar of pickled asparagus. Hmm ... and a bag of frozen shelled edamame - sounds weird, but it tastes pretty good. Seems like I had the makings for a green pilaf!


The base was a bunch of chopped scallions and yellow wax beans sauteed with a spoon of olive oil and some garlic. I then threw in the asparagus spears bits and a couple of cups of boiled edamame. Once the quinoa was cooked, I tossed it with the veggies and threw in some of that fabulous Melinda's habanero sauce and a spoon of lemon-ginger juice. And garnished it with some toasted cashews.


Simple, yet delectable. Did I already say that? :)