Quinoa Sweet potato Salad

Hello and good morning. Yesterday, we landed in Miami, Florida. The temperature is so good that it made up for a 7 month long cold winter. Our hotel has a full equipped kitchen in it, yey! So more cooking coming along.

We got Kia Optima car for our rental, a free upgrade, talk bout getting lucky. The drive was smooth and haven't seen any interesting places yet. Today we are planning to see Key West the entire day. It is about 3 hrs drive from Miami.

Coming to this recipe. Quinoa is one of the super foods like oats. It is packed with rich protein and fibers. It is a South American based grain and is now available everywhere in the world. Every once a week I see to it that we have healthy, whole grain only food. So made quinoa salad. This is one of the basic items of quinoa and as you can see I am exploring the possibilities with this new grain.

It cooks with same amount of water as rice, that is, for 1 cup quinoa, 2 cups of water. It has a distinctive nutty flavor to it goes well with all veggies. This time you will see the continental and mostly Chinese side of usage. Next time I will stick to my South Indian roots :) mom says it resembles a grain called Navane to look at, though Navane is called foxtail millet.

Serves: 2-3

Preparation time: 15 mins to cook Quinoa + 30 mins to roast all Veggies + 5 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 lb french beans cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1/2 green bell pepper cut lengthwise
• 1/2 big onion cut length wise
• 1 big carrot peeled and finely shredded
• 1 cup Quinoa
• 2 and 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp Sriracha sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp lime juice or lemon juice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
• Salt as needed

Method:

• Rinse thoroughly and cook quinoa in a pressure cooker or rice cooker or stove top with given amount of water.
• Preheat the oven to 400K.
• In a plastic zipper bag, add 1 tbsp of olive oil, salt, pepper and sweet potato pieces. Close the zipper and shake well.
• Transfer the sweet potato along with seasoning to a baking sheet lines with parchment paper and bake it for 20 mins, stirring after 10 mins.
• Do to switch off the oven, bring out the sweet potatoes and add the cut beans and bake for another 5 mins.
• Now bring out the baking tray again and add the bell pepper and onion and bake for other 5 mins.
• In a mixing bowl, add red wine vinegar, sriracha, soy, lemon juice, left over olive oil and salt, and whisk it well.
• To this add the cooked quinoa, roasted vegetables and shredded carrot, give a gentle mix. Check for taste and serve.