Warrior food - Quinoa and red rice

Warrior food

Seemingly the Aztecs went to war on a bellyful of quinoa and considered it a sacred grain.  It supplies significant protein which is unusual for a food considered a grain. (Though  technically it is not a grain but a seed and related to spinach and swiss chard.)  In addition to supplying protein ,  it is also a complete protein, meaning that it supplies all 9 essential amino acids.    Until recently it was only really available in health food shops but it is now stocked by most major supermarkets.

While I am not a fan of the term “super food” as it seems to imply that only exotic foods that are grown on the top of a mountain in remotest Himalayas, harvested by pink elephants using chopsticks are some how nutritionally better than home grown fruit and vegetables. 

In reality super food is a marketing term usually used to increase sales.  While goji berries are good for us,  wild blackberries are just as good,  but no commercial interest stands to gain from establishing them as a superfood.  Same with homegrown raspberries ,  they are probably far more nutritious than imported blue berries that have spent weeks travelling half way across the world.  

Take the super food label with a pinch of salt,  we should all be eating more fruit and veg but consider seasonal, local ,  sometimes less perfect looking home grown varieties when out shopping.  

So enough of my ranting,   I do think quinoa is one “super” food we should try and include in our diet .   This recipe also includes red rice from France,  quite a nutty rice that makes a change from brown, adds some colour and provides a nice contrast of texture with the fluffy bouncy quinoa.   I adapted this from my favourite Ottolenghi cook book making substitutions with the ingredients I had to hand

Red rice and quinoa salad (adapted from an Ottolenghi recipe)

200g quinoa
200g Camargue red rice
2 small onions, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp olive oil/Donegal rapeseed oil, plus a little extra for frying
Zest of 2 orange
Juice of 2 oranges
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
Handful of dried sour cherries( Ottolenghi recipe used apricots)
20g pistachio nuts lightly toasted and roughly chopped

20g of walnuts
Handful of parsley leaves picked

Crumbled feta - 50 g (optional)
Salt and pepper

Method

1. Roast the pistachios at 170C for 8 minutes,  roast the walnuts for 3 minutes and chop both roughly.  ( use a timer when cooking these ,  nuts burn quite easily and they are expensive,  I tell you this from experience)

2. Put red rice in boiling water and simmer for 25- 30 minutes.  In a separate saucepan put quinoa in boiling water and simmer for 12 minutes.  Drain both, refresh under cold water, and leave in fine sieves to drain.

3. While the grains are cooking, fry the onion in a little olive oil until golden brown. 

Allow to cool. 

4. In a bowl, mix the cooked grains with all the other ingredients including the rest of the olive oil and season generously.   Serve at room temperature.

The feta is an optional extra,  its works quite well with the orangey dressing,(  I think.)  This salad would look lovely also in a big wide bowl served at a buffet lunch.  I ate it with a green leafy salad with asparagus and beetroot.   Lovely filling but light lunch,  you know that lovely balance where you feel full but not heavy.