Fall in love with this Spicy twist on Quinoa

My Sunday mornings kick off with a hearty breakfast whilst leisurely reading every bit of the Body and Soul magazine of the Sunday Telegraph.  We don't go a week without including quinoa somewhere within our meals... so when I stumbled across this featured recipe in Body and Soul I couldn't resist giving it a whirl.

With a few touches of Saya's soulful inspiration to tweak the recipe, I came up with this version which was a BIG hit.  My famished partner came home from basketball, delighted with the spicy fragrant kitchen and gobbled down 2 big bowls immediately and fell in love.

Spiced Quinoa pilaf with corn and mushroom*

Ingredients:

1 tbs olive oil

2 brown onions diced

2 garlic cloves crushed

7 - 8 button mushrooms sliced

2 teaspoons finely grated ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

4 teaspoons Massel vegetable stock powder

1 cup quinoa rinsed and drained

2 cups water

2 corncobs

olive oil spray

Instructions:

Heat oil in a large saucepan and stir in diced onions.  Stir fry until translucent, for about 6 minutes.  Then add the ginger, garlic, spices and stir to coat onions.  Then add mushrooms, quinoa, stockpowder and water.  Stir well.  Reduce to a gentle simmer with the lid partially off.  Leave it to simmer for about 20 - 30 minutes or until liquid is completely absorbed (look out for the small dots on the surface of the quinoa).  Then remove from heat and place lid on top of the saucepan for 2 minutes.  Then fluff up with a fork.

While the quinoa is simmering heat a good wok, frypan or chargrill on high and spray the corn cobs with olive oil.  Cook them for 20 minutes or so while rotating them with tongs occassionally to get an even spread of that lovely golden colour with a chargrilled rustic touch.  Remove from heat and once cooled cut and remove the kernels.

Top the cooked quinoa with the sweet corn kernels and voila!.... fall in love xo

*Adapted from page 24 of Body and Soul magazine, Sunday Telegraph, 26th February 2012

PS: For a tomatoey rich quinoa recipe, see my original version: Delish Vegetable Quinoa