Recipe: Quinoa with Zucchini "Pasta"

Co-Founder Ravi shares his recipe for Zucchini "Pasta" paired with quinoa - perfect dish for summer!

Zucchini "pasta" is a nice alternative to regular wheat-based pasta. Should I mention that it's also low-carb, gluten free and raw? Interested yet? I like to pair zucchini "pasta" with some quinoa and mediterranean delicacies such as olives and feta. Vegans could easily omit the feta and still achieve an amazing dish (more on that later).

1 large zucchini

1 cup of cooked Toasted Quinoa

handful of pitted black olives

3 tbspn of tahini

3 tbspn kosher salt

clove of garlic, smashed

olive oil

vinegar (white wine or balsamic)

Take zucchini and run it through a mandolin slicer to achieve thin ribbons. Mix zucchini with kosher salt and smashed garlic and allow to sit for 2 hours. Salting the zucchini removes the crunch without rendering the zucchini mushy. This is how zucchini "pasta" is made. Rubbing in a clove of smashed garlic infuses the zucchini with a faint garlic flavor. After 2 hours, rinse zucchini in water to remove excess salt, drain in sieve and pat dry with a paper towel.  You can discard the garlic at this point or add it back. Set zucchini aside. Take 1 cup of cooked quinoa and combine with fresh tahini and a pinch of salt. On a plate, arrange zucchini "pasta" and spoon on quinoa. Add olives and feta (optional) and dress with oil and vinegar.  If vegan, omit the feta and use balsamic vinegar for an acidic note. Otherwise, white wine vinegar is the way to go (the feta will add enough sourness here). Serve and eat!

Recipe: Bolivian Quinoa Soup (Sopa de Quinua)

When I was in  Bolivia a few months ago, I was amazed at how many soups used quinoa as the thickening agent. In sticking with the authentic, I vowed to recreate the most basic preparation of quinoa from the motherland: sopa de quinua, or quinoa soup. The traditional recipe calls for from-scratch chicken broth, but you can sub your favorite veggie substitute as we have here. 

Ingredients

Broth:

Use your favorite vegan chicken soup broth recipe, we like this one from Oh My Veggies

Soup:

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into chunks on the diagonal

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into bite sized chunks

1 tpsn olive oil

1 onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

Fresh parsley leaves

1 cup of Toasted Quinoa

Bunch of tuscan kale (optional)

To make the quinoa soup, start with a soup pot. Brown onions and garlic in olive oil on medium-high heat. Add dry quinoa to toast. Stir for 5 minutes. Add enough broth to your liking (I suggest no more than 4 quarts). Bring water to boil. Add potatoes, carrots - you can also add your favorite chicken substitute here, shredded. Cook for 15 minutes. Quinoa will become super plump and soup will have a thick consistency. (also optional: if you want a green-leafy nutritional boost, add a bunch of chopped tuscan kale. It's not what they'd serve in bolivia but it does make this a one-pot meal.) garnish with parsley leaves.

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