Quinoa with Chickpeas and Black Bean Salad with Lemon-Cumin Vinaigrette in Potato Basket/ Quinoa with with Chickpeas and Black Bean Salad with Lemon-Cumin Vinaigrette in Aloo Katori

I’ve been reading up on healthy foods and came to hear a lot of good things about quinoa. It is being touted as a healthy grain as it is a rich source of protein and fiber. When cooked, it fluffs up nicely and almost resembles couscous or sabudana (tapioca). What I like about cooking is the ability to experiment with new ingredients and since I had never cooked with quinoa before, I decided to try a salad. I also wanted to understand the quinoa behaviour while cooking. I read that the cooking process is similar to the one used for rice. However, I found that it is better to be conservative on the quinoa to water ratio. The brand of quinoa I suggested a ratio of 1:2 (quinoa:water). When I tried it, the quinoa was too soggy for my taste. Ultimately, I ended up using 1:1 ratio of quinoa to water. Wash the quinoa thoroughly (3 – 4 washes) before cooking as it has a bitter outer coating. This recipe has quite a few ingredients – each adding their own taste and texture. I had made it as a picnic starter and it turned out to be delicious. This recipe has 3 main components: The quinoa salad, the lemon-cumin vinaigrette and the potato basket. This dish can be made just as a salad and served with a dash of lemon, the vinaigrette is multipurpose and can be used with other salads, and last but not least, the potato baskets can be stuffed with a filling of your choice. In short this is my triple bonanza post, three recipes in one dish! Needless to say, experimenting with these combinations to create a dish was a deelightful experience 🙂

Recipe Details :
Serves: 3-4 pax
Time: 40 mins
Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients :

• For salad

• 1 cup cooked quinoa (please see tips section of this post)
• 1/2 can black beans
• 1/2 can chickpeas
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh coriander, finely chopped

• For vinaigrette

• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• fine zest of half a lemon(optional)
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp honey (optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

• For potato basket/aloo katori

• 1 medium potato, shredded on the largest side of a box grater
• 1/2 tsp oil
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp cornflour
• Salt as per taste

• Wash the quinoa thoroughly and place it in a pan with a 1:1 ratio of water. Bring the mixture to a boil. Once it boils, put on a lid and turn the heat to low. Cook till all the water is absorbed. Take it off the heat and leave to rest for 20 minutes. Fluff well with a fork.
• Combine all of the vinaigrette ingredients in a small bowl and whisk well. Prepare the vinaigrette only after the quinoa is cooked.
• Now combine all the salad ingredients in a bowl. Add half the quantity of the prepared vinaigrette into the salad bowl and mix well. Let the salad rest for about 20 mins at room temperature before serving.
• The salad can be refrigerated overnight and the extra vinaigrette can be used at the time of serving the next day. The vinaigrette is essential as it adds a great acidity to the salad. If you do not have the ingredients for the vinaigrette, then just squeeze some lemon juice on top to balance the salad flavours.

• Wash and peel the potatoes. Grate them on the largest openings on a box grater.
• Squeeze the grated potato to remove excess moisture. The more water you can remove now, the better.
• Now combine the remaining ingredients with the potatoes in a bowl. Do this quickly as the potato will start to oxidize.
• Lightly grease a muffin tray. Scoop some of the mixture into each section of the tray.
• Working outwards from the center, press down to create a flat base and then push the mixture up the sides of the wall to create a bowl shape.
• Bake in an oven at 180 Celsius for 20 minutes. At that stage check if the baskets are golden brown. If not, continue baking, checking every 3 – 5 minutes.
• Remove the baskets from the muffin tray. You can serve them immediately.

Tips :

• For those staying in Singapore, I used the Origins Health food Organic Quinoa pack and I did not cook according to the instructions on the pack as it made the quinoa too mushy for my liking.
• For an interesting perspective on cooking quinoa and reading instructions about the same, give this a read http://foodbod.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/dont-cook-quinoa-as-it-says-on-the-pack/
• I used canned versions of the chickpeas and black beans. You can soak them overnight in the usual manner and make them too.
• If you refrigerate the potato baskets, then warm them slightly in an oven so that they get a bit crisp before serving the next day.