Quinoa Porridge with Mixed Nuts, Seeds and Sultanas

Ever since I discovered Quinoa I feel in love. This little South American grain is so delicious, versatile and healthy! Quinoa (keen-wah) is extremely high in protein, in fact it has just as much as 4 eggs. It has less carbohydrates and higher mineral content then the rest of the grains. It also contains all the essential amino acids that we need. Only one cup has over your daily requirements for manganese, magnesium and iron. However the best thing about this grain is that its packed full of fiber, three times then the other grains [1].

Its also gluten free, which is how I discovered quinoa a few years ago. I had leaky gut syndrome and needed to find alternatives to wheat and other sources of gluten. I also had a mild intolerance to rice, so for me quinoa filled the spot perfectly. It’s really quick to cook and can substitute pretty much anything you can make with rice, including stir-fry, casseroles, stews and sweets.

So why isn’t this ancient grain more popular then rice? Well when the Spanish came to South America they didn’t respect the Inca’s super grain. They thought it was peasant food and decided that rice, corn and potato’s was better.

In Australia its becoming more mainstream, as it begins to creep into the major supermarkets in the health food section. Even some Australian nutritionists, celebrity fitness trainers and chefs are starting to promote it, but not enough that the average person knows what it is. If your in Australia, you can buy organic white/red/black quinoa in Woolworths, Coles and Healthfood shops. The colour doesn’t change the taste or the nutritional property’s,  so its up to you what you choose. A few years back I decided to stuff our Christmas turkey with black quinoa and walnuts. Probably not the best colour, as it turned my family off the stuffing. According to my chef brother, I ‘ruined Christmas’.

When ever I cook quinoa I always make some extra to keep in the fridge, to add to salads and porridge. Last night I made the Stuffed Eggplant Rolls with Quinoa, but this morning I’m making my favourite breakfast treat.

Quinoa Porridge with Mixed Nuts, Seeds and Sultanas (vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Ingredients:

4-5 tablespoons of cooked quinoa

2-3 tablespoons mixed nuts & seeds

1/2 cup plant milk (coconut, rice or oat; almond or soy if you can tolerate)

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

maple syrup or other natural sweetner

1/2 tbsp sultanas

Method:

Dry roasting nuts & seeds

1. Take a small pan and dry roast the nuts and seeds on the stove. Once they are a little brown and have an aroma take off the heat.

2. Take a small pot and add quinoa and enough milk to cover it and turn on medium heat.

3. Add cinnamon and sweetner and take off the heat once it comes to a lite boil.

4. Serve in  a bowl and top with nuts & seeds and sultanas.

*Serves 1

[1] Lieberman, D. & O’Connor, A. 2010, The 10 Things you Need to Eat: And More Than 100 Easy and Delicious Ways to Prepare Them.

Eggplant Rolls stuffed with Quinoa and ‘Mince’

I finally found a good substitute for mince meat. I have tried Quorn, which was very close, but has egg whites so its not vegan. TVP Mince (Lamyong) is vegan and has a very meaty texture. It doesn’t taste like meat of course, but it takes on the taste of whatever you put with it. So I think you could add stock to give it a more meaty taste. I just added soy sauce tonight to give it a richer taste. I have read that TVP Mince is not healthy, but for every now it again its ok. Better then the saturated fats in meat anyway.

We bought a big eggplant and I was thinking of what I could do with it. I didn’t have enough potato’s for moussaka, so I thought I would try and create something new. It turned out well. The stuffing was nice and moist and eggplant was nice and soft. I read a tip in my Chef Chloe book about how to prepare eggplant by sweating. It actually really works and my eggplant was not bitter at all. 

Eggplant Rolls stuffed with Quinoa and ‘Mince’ (vegan, gluten free, nut free)

Ingredients:

1 red onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 cups quinoa, cooked

1 cup TVP Mince (I used Lamyong TVP Mince)

1 large italian eggplant, sliced in large thin pieces

200g tomato pasta sauce

3 tablespoons tamari or gluten free soy sauce

2 tablespoons fresh basil

olive oil for frying

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees

2. Sweat the eggplants for 20mins. Just need to put eggplant on a tray and cover in plenty of salt. After wipe off the salt and water (that will come out of it).

3. Shallow fry the eggplant, till soft then place on a plate/tray with paper towel, to soak up the oil and let leave it to cool.

4. Cook quinoa according to packet and soak TVP Mince in small amount of water, so its just wet.

5. Heat olive oil in a pot then add onion and garlic and cook for 5mins on medium heat. 

6. Take pot off the heat, add TVP Mince, quinoa, 1/4 cup of passata sauce (or more if mixture is too dry), soy sauce, basil, salt & pepper to taste.

7. Take a 8×10 baking dish and spoon few tablespoons of sauce to cover the bottom.

8. Now you can start rolling the eggplant if they are cool enough. Just place eggplant slice on palm of hand and spoon mixture into the centre and roll each side in and then place into baking dish. 

9. Once you have made all the eggplant rolls cover the top with passata sauce and sprinkle the top with corn crumbs.

10. Cook in the oven for 25mins, till hot all the way through and corn crumbs are a little golden.

Canned Legumes

This morning while procrastinating about doing my assignments, I began thinking about BPA again. Last night to make the Black bean patties I used Global Organics Organic Black beans. I haven’t found anywhere that I can buy dry organic black beans and these ones are really convenient and soft. Black beans aren’t largely used in Australia. I’ve only seen them at a few Mexican healthy fast food places that have opened in last few years, like Guzman y Gomez, Mad Mex and Tuckeria. All of which have great vegan options and are way more traditional and fresh then old Montezuma’s. Last time I went there I got food poisoning, so I don’t recommend it.

Anyway I began looking online to see if Global Organics had BPA as well. According to Shop Naturally Healthy Households this brand does, but they mention a press release from Global Organics stating  “Test results from the can manufacturer show that the levels of BPA are well below the International Standards set…“Therefore in conclusion, human exposure to BPA from can coatings is minimal and poses no known risk to human health. Can coatings have been and continue to be recognized as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.K. Food Standards Agency, the EC Scientific Committee on Food and other government bodies worldwide.”

So I guess its a better alternative if you can’t find Eden Organics, which is the only brand of can legumes I have found that is available in Australia without BPA. If your in the USA you have a lot more choices, check out this site for more info. For more information on BPA-free products you can get in Australia, check out Shop Naturally Healthy Households.

According to Oregon Enviromental Council a safer alternative to BPA cans are Tetra pak. They stated that ” Tetra Pak is made of 70 percent paperboard combined with thin layers of LDPE (low density polyethylene) and aluminum foil. xii Tetra Paks are used widely throughout Europe and have been utilized in the United States for juice, soups, liquid dairy products and even wine.”

I prefer to buy coconut milk in tetra paks. You can’t get them from the big supermarkets but you can buy them from Asian supermarkets. They tend to be alot creamer as well. Glass jars are also a good alternative, except that most have BPA in the jar lid. I haven’t been able to find any without BPA, but I’m guessing it would have less then from canned products.

Anyway bottom line is that we should be preparing food the old fashion way, from scratch. I’m going to try to make a commitment to do this more. Cans products are so tempting because its quicker and can be cheaper, but I rather invest my time and money in my health now while I’m still young and disease free.

For more info on why BPA is so bad, check out my other post. Also for info on what to buy organic or non-organic check out this site.