Quinoa Stack Up
This is a surprisingly easy, beautiful, and nutritious entree or side dish that will compliment any meal. I was inspired to make this dish after having something similar at a local cafe, Cafe Helios, in Raleigh, NC.
Warning: this recipe contains three parts, which means more dishes.
Spiced Quinoa:
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 1/4 c water or vegetable broth
- 1 t cumin
- 1/2 t paprika
- 1/2 t chili powder
- 1/2 t salt
Combine all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, covered, until the quinoa has absorbed all of the water. This should take about 20 minutes. I always use my rice cooker to cook quinoa, just follow the same instructions as you would for rice.
Beans:
- 1/2 c beans (any kind you like), drained
Simply warm up your beans by either placing them in a steam basket on top of the cooking quinoa in the last 5 minutes or using a separate sauce pan. The microwave works too, but I try not to use mine.
Tofu:
- 1/2 lb extra firm tofu
- 1 T flour
- 1 T nutritional yeast
- 1 t turmeric
- 1/2 t salt
Using a circle cookie cutter about 2 1/2 inches in diameter cut a cylinder out of your brick of tofu. Cut that cylinder into 3 equal pieces. You end up with three circular pieces of tofu.
Heat a saute pan with about 1 T of oil to medium high heat.
Mix the flour, nutritional yeast, turmeric and salt. Place the tofu into the dry mixture and coat it evenly all over. Fry the tofu in the heated pan. It should take about 2-3 minutes per side.
Assembly:
- Place the same circle cookie cutter that was used for the tofu on a plate. Use a spoon to scoop the cooked quinoa into the cookie cutter and pack it down. I suggest a 1/4 to 1/3 c per serving. Carefully pull the cookie cutter off the plate. The quinoa should stay in place.
- Spoon 1 to 2 T of the beans onto the quinoa.
- Gently place the tofu onto the beans.
- Finish with a sprinkle of paprika on the sides of the plate to add a splash of color.
YIELDS: 3 servings PREP TIME: 5 minutes COOK TIME: 20 minutes
