Quinoa "Fried Rice"

quickie quinoa, fried like rice

A very quick post for today, as I am late, late, late (does not help that there's traffic jams everywhere due to roadblocks today). Been a while since I have been cooking as I've been busy with work. A certain person recently did his medical check up and was told by his doctor, he better start cutting back on fatty foods and etc, hence we are "trying" to eat more healthier food.

While this concoction of mine (based on the Flavours magazine) is not super healthy with the frying element and prawns, it was a relative change from eating rice by switching it to the super healthy grain aka quinoa. I probably should have left it longer to sprout, as it will get even healthier but due to bad planning, we had only decided to cook at the last minute. If you want to get a supply of the healthy grain, head towards Country Farm Organics which seems to be the only place I can source for these. They have various colours (this one is the multi-coloured one hence the red quinoa in the bowl) but sometimes stocks are limited.

I tweaked the original recipe a little - I fried the prawn shells in olive oil to infuse it with more flavour and instead of peas, I used chopped long beans as someone is allergic to peas. Tastewise, it was good and I liked how it filled us up without us feeling bloated. Now, I can't wait to try the other recipes like the quinoa salad or a tabbouleh. If you want to recreate my version, here's a rough recipe.

Quinoa "Fried Rice" (adapted from Flavours magazine)

1 cup quinoa

2 1/2 cups chicken stock

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

6 prawns, shelled

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 eggs

a bunch of long beans, chopped finely

1 tablespoon soy sauce (I used Kikkoman's lower salt version)

4 stalks spring onions, chopped

To make quinoa: Place quinoa and stock in a pot, bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover the lid and simmer for about 20 minutes or all water has been absorbed. The grains are supposed to look transculent but because mine are coloured, I just stopped once the water was absorbed. Set aside to cool. It is better if you leave it overnight and use it the other day.

To make fried rice: In a wok, fry the shells in the olive oil until fragrant. Discard shells reserving the oil. Fry long beans until cooked and slightly brown. Remove and set aside. Fry the garlic, and cook the prawns. Add the quinoa and mix. Make a hole in the middle and crack the eggs in the centre and scramble to coat quinoa. Add back the cooked long beans to mix and sprinkle with soy sauce, tasting as you add it to adjust to your taste. Dish out and garnish with chopped spring onions.