recipe (diwali edition!): quinoa gobi with chana masala
diwali is the indian festival of lights. or so i'm told...
i never really celebrated it much growing up in my indian-american household, aside from getting together with other indian families and sharing indian food. in my adult life, i try to commemorate the holiday by cooking indian food.
you definitely don't need to be indian to prepare good indian food. and quinoa has been embraced by the indian cooks across the nation due to its versatility and high-protein content (indians tend to eat a lot of vegetarian food).
so let's get started. i present... quinoa gobi with chana masala. it's no more than a play on chana masala with rice. only the "rice" here is a mix of finely chopped cauliflower and plump quinoa.
quinoa gobi (gobi = cauliflower)
1 head of cauliflower
1 cup of cooked quinoa (1/2 cup dry quinoa, 1 cup water, boil for full 10 minutes, remove from heat and leave it covered for 10-20 minutes until the quinoa becomes plump)
1/2 onion, chopped finely
1 tspn of ginger/garlic paste (take equal parts fresh ginger and garlic, chop finely, add course salt and then mash into paste using pestle and mortar or the back end of a knife)
1 tspn of mustard seeds
1 tspn of cumin seeds
1 tspn of ground turmeric
1 tspn of kosher salt (or more, to taste)
2 tbspn of olive oil
in a big frying pan, add mustard seed, cumin seed and ground turmeric to 1 tpsn hot oil and allow the flavors to deepen. keep on medium heat. add ginger/garlic paste and onions and stir-fry until onions are light brown. add chopped cauliflower and cook for 5 minutes. then remove concoction, pulse in batches in food processor until a fine rice-like texture is achieved. return now-chopped cauliflower to frying pan. add another tpsn of oil and allow cauliflower to brown. you want there to be variation in the cauliflower -- some pieces should be crispy brown and others should be lightly cooked. add boiled quinoa, stir, salt and serve.
chana masala
2 cans of chickpeas (15 oz each)
2 can of tomato puree (20 oz)
1/2 onion, chopped finely
1 tspn of ginger/garlic paste
2 tspn of cumin seeds
2 tpsn of ground cumin
2 tpsn of ground coriander
2 tpsn of garam masala
1 tspn of ground turmeric
2 tbspn of olive oil
1 tpsn of kosher salt (or more, to taste)
optional: 1 tpsn of chaat masala (or black salt and amchur)
in a big frying pan, add all spices (except for chaat masala) to oil and allow the flavor to deepen. keep on medium heat. add ginger/garlic paste and onions and stir-fry until onions are light brown. add rinsed and drained chickpeas and stir-fry for 5 minutes. add tomato puree and reduce heat medium-low and allow to simmer for 15 minutes. add salt and chaat masala (or black salt and amchur -- these can be procured at an indian grocery store), and serve.
- ravi