Spicey Quinoa Topping

Broccoli and Basil in sunlight

Spicy Quinoa Topping

I use this recipe as a garnish or a topping for a variety of dishes like:

Tuna and Broccoli Pie Cheeseless Cheese Sauce and Quinoa Topping







Ingredients:

½ a cup of dry quinoa
1½ cups of water

Method

Put these two ingredients into a saucepan and bring it to the boil, and then immediately turn the heat down as low as possible to simmer for 10-15 minutes.  The quinoa absorbs all the water.  Take it off the heat.

Add to the cooked quinoa:

½ teaspoon of Fajita seasoning or Cajun mix
¼ teaspoon of ground turmeric (for colour)
1 tablespoon of olive oil or rapeseed oil

Coat the quinoa in the seasoning and oil and sprinkle it over the dish. 

You can give the dish a whirl in the microwave and lightly brown the topping under the grill to make it crunchy if you like things piping hot.  But remember that the more you heat this healthy food, the less healthy it becomes.  You can protect the essential oils in the rapeseed oil (omegas 3 + 6) by simply adding it last - i.e. after the cooking process.

Healthy Tuna Fish Crumble With Quinoa Flour and Olive Oil

This is a real quickie.  It's a savoury crumble, which went well today.  I seem to remember, from my days as a chef, a Fish Crumble recipe.  The trouble is the name is all I remember about it. 

Anyway, I'll call it Healthy Tuna Fish Crumble With Quinoa Flour and Olive Oil. 

I just used the same base/filling as I do with Quinoa Crunch With Broccoli and Tuna in Coarse Tomato Sauce.  Here's the link:

http://dbmcbain.blogspot.com/2011/07/quinoa-crunch-with-broccoli-and-tuna-in.html

So, the new thing about today was that I made a Quinoa Flour Crumble Topping, instead of  Whole Quinoa Crunchy Topping.

Ingredients:

1 Heaped tablespoon of quinoa flour
1 tablespoon of olive oil
¼ teaspoon of ground turmeric (for colouring)
¼ teaspoon of Fajita seasoning

Method:

Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl, and rub them together to get a crumbly texture.

This is better done in a slow oven - about 200-250°. 

If you have vegetables in this dish that you don't want overcooked, put them in raw.  Remember, the thicker you chop the vegetables the longer they take to cook through - hence you'll kill off fewer vitamins.

Healthy Scottish Shortbread Made With Quinoa Flour Xylitol and Coconut Oil

 This is an experiment with healthy ingredients that worked first time.  It'll fill the base of an 8½”/21.5cm baking tin. 

Ingredients:

4 heaped tablespoons of quinoa flour
3 heaped tablespoons of Xylitol sweetener
4 tablespoons of melted coconut oil

A soft sticky dough - but healthy

Method:

Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl.  Don't overheat the coconut oil to melt it; it melts at 76 °F (24 °C).  You’ll get soft dough, which you can just flatten evenly down into a greased and floured baking tray. 

You can mark out the wedge shapes with a knife and crimp or use a fork to decorate the edges. 

Bake for about 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 200°. 

To check if it’s cooked you can put a knife or fork into the dough at the centre of the baking tray and if it comes out clean (no uncooked, moist dough sticking to it) the shortbread is cooked. 

Let it cool and settle for a few hours to get the traditional hard, crumbly shortbread texture. 

The Healthy option for Scottish shortbread

Most people who Google this sort of blog up onto their screen will already know that the three ingredients in the blog's title are known for their health benefits, i.e. quinoa flour, Xylitol sweetener and coconut oil.  Although, I’m not convinced about coconut oil, there’s no official (government, for what that’s worth) advice that coconut oil is any healthier than other saturated fats, like butter.  There’s plenty of information on the web about the different kinds of fatty acids and why the saturated fat in coconut oil is healthier than animal fat (it’s something to do with the length of them). I won’t try to BS you that I know anything much about that, but here’s an article I found on the web.


http://www.thevirgincoconutoil.com/articleitem.php?articleid=163
http://hubpages.com/hub/coconut-oil-for-cooking

The traditional Scottish Shortbread is made with butter, but if you believe the guff about coconut oil being healthier, then coconut oil does the job. 

Here's some guff about quinoa:

Quinoa has the nine essential amino acids the body needs for muscle building protein, and fibre for a healthy colon. Quinoa has minerals like magnesium for relaxing your muscles and blood vessels, manganese and copper antioxidants, which protect against cancer, and it has more calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, iron, copper, manganese, and zinc than wheat, barley, or corn.

Health gurus recommend whole grains nowadays, but quinoa isn't really a grain; it's a seed. It's more nutritious than grains, with: amino acids, fibre, vitamins and minerals, enzymes, phytonutrients and antioxidants.

Here are some articles about quinoa:

http://hubpages.com/hub/GetSomeQuinoaInYa
http://www.suite101.com/content/nutritional-benefits-of-quinoa-a189657

Xylitol is a natural sugar substitute - they make it from birch tree bark and often, corn.  It attacks the bacteria that cause the plaque, which is the cause of tooth cavities - whilst, as we all know, sugar rots teeth and gums.  It also has a low GI (glycemic index), which means that diabetics can use it safely.  It's much lower in calories too. 

So with Xylitol, you're a winner all round, as long as you're not a dog.  IT KILLS DOGS!  However, I know you're not a dog; otherwise, you'd be in the circus - being, as you are, able to read this, and work a computer. 

Here’s some guff about Xylitol:

http://www.xylitol.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol

Apple Crumble Made With Quinoa Flour, Xylitol and Coconut Oil

Apple Crumble Made With Quinoa Flour, Xylitol and Coconut Oil

My wife (tha-boss-o-tha-hoose) said she fancied something sweet with fruit in it, so I've put together an apple crumble made with all the healthiest ingredients.

To spare you the preamble, I'll get straight to the recipe, and maybe I'll make a quick account of the health benefits of the ingredients.  However, the internet is teaming with such info, so I won't go on too much.

Stewed apples ingredients:

1 Bramley apple (1 cooking apple)
1 tablespoon of water
1 knob of coconut oil
1 heaped tablespoon of  Xylitol (natural sweetener)

Method:

Core and chop the apple into inch cubes (don't bother to peel it unless you're a sissy).  Bring it to the boil in a saucepan with the water, Xylitol and coconut oil.  As soon as it boils, turn the heat right down as far as you can and let it simmer. It'll take about 10 minutes for the apple to mush. Put it into an oven proof dish.

Crumble topping ingredients:

1 heaped tablespoon of Quinoa flour
1 dessertspoon sized knob of coconut oil (keep it cool so it doesn't melt)
1 heaped dessertspoon of Xylitol

Throw these three ingredients into a mixing bowl and rub in the coconut oil until you get a gritty, crumbly consistency.  Don't handle it too much, coconut oil melts at 76 °F (24 °C). 

Cover the stewed apples with the crumble topping, and bake until it's brown on top.

Here's some guff about Xylitol (sweetener):

http://hubpages.com/hub/XYLITOL-the-New-Natural-Sweetener

Here's some guff about Quinoa:

http://hubpages.com/hub/GetSomeQuinoaInYa
http://hubpages.com/hub/Introduction-to-Quinoa

Guff about coconut oil:

http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html
http://hubpages.com/hub/Coconut-Oil-For-Healthier-Skin-and-Glow#img_url_4692906

I'm not convinced about the health benefits of coconut oil.  I did some Googling some time ago to see if there's anything concrete regarding the health benefits, and I wasn't too convinced because there's no official (government) endorsement of the stuff.  (Not that I'm all that convinced about government info either).

Ya' pays yar money and ya' takes yar choice.

Fish Pie Made With Quinoa Flour

Fish Pie Made With Quinoa Flour

 The fish pie got the thumbs up yesterday.  The idea was simple:  I used quinoa flour instead of  wheat flour, and made a simple, basic fish pie. 

So here's the recipe measured very roughly (it was an experiment):

Ingredients:

50grams of white fish
50grams of uncooked broccoli
½ pint of milk
1 small onion - finely diced
1 tablespoon of quinoa flour

Thick bechamel sauce

½ a teaspoon of bouillon mix
2 medium sized potatoes boiled and mashed

Method:

Lightly poach the fish in half of the milk, along with the onion, using the lowest heat on the hob. 

Chop the broccoli into ¾" florets. 

When the fish flakes easily under a little pressure from a fork or spoon, it's cooked.  Take it out of the pan and lay it aside.  Use the milk still in the pan as stock for the white sauce - leave the diced onion in too. 

I use a Liverpool roux.  I think it's healthier than a proper roux because you're not using fat. 

Sauce Covering White Fish and Broccoli

To make a Liverpool roux, just mix the quinoa flour in a little fresh milk, and keep adding milk until you’ve mixed it all in and it pours easily.  Slowly add that to the milk and onion in the pan - keeping the hob at its lowest possible heat (especially now, to keep the sauce from sticking to the pan.)  Keep stirring until it cooks through and you get a thick white sauce.

Chop or flake the fish into a pie dish.  Add the uncooked broccoli on top of that.  Pour the white sauce over and cover it all with the mashed potatoes.  You can top that with a little grated cheese. 

Potato Topping

I put mine in the microwave for 5 minutes to par-cook the broccoli and then use the grill to brown it quickly on top.
Quinoa - Health Benefits and Cooking Tips