 Dear all,
The
other day I had invited some vegetarian friends for dinner and I wanted
to make something special. I had discovered a packet of quinoa at my
favourite supermarket and I decided to use it in combination with
mushroom and spinach flavoured with plenty of fresh thyme. This worked
out so well that I decided to share this recipe in my newsletter.
While researching the nutritional profile of quinoa, I discovered that
the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has
officially declared the year 2013 as "The International Year of the
Quinoa." One day later, I read an article by David Jonathan Gower from
Ambrosia Organic Farms in Goa about the negative consequences of this
quinoa boom. He writes, “poorer people in Peru and Bolivia, for whom
(quinoa) was once a nourishing staple food, can no longer afford to eat
it. Imported junk food is cheaper. In Lima, quinoa now costs more than
chicken. Outside the cities, and fueled by overseas demand, the pressure
is on to turn land that once produced a portfolio of diverse crops into
quinoa monoculture.”
We might have to rethink if we really need to eat quinoa. Anyway, my
recipe works well also with brown rice and the light colour kind of
millet. Just replace the quinoa with equal amounts of these grains. I
think you could use also whole grains of wheat or rye, which you have
cooked before.
By the way, ignorant about the negative side effects of buying imported
quinoa, I have asked the owner of my favourite supermarket in Goa to
stock it and it is available there now. Please email me if you want to
know details.
Quinoa-Spinach-Mushroom-Pie
Ingredients:
(for eight servings in a round pie dish with a diameter of 29.5 cm or 11.5 inches)
-
2 cups quinoa
-
3 packets (600 grams) fresh mushrooms, any type you like
-
3 big bundles (600 grams) fresh spinach leaves
-
3 big leeks, around 500 grams together
-
5 sprigs fresh thyme
-
4 eggs
-
8 tablespoons olive oil
-
20 grams sesame seeds
-
4 cups liquid
-
Salt
-
Pepper
Method:
First of all you need to prepare the vegetables. Wash the spinach leaves
well and chop them roughly. Clean and wash the mushrooms and chop them
roughly as well. Never immerse fresh mushrooms in water because they
will soak it up, which will dilute their taste. Wash the leeks and chop
them finely. Rinse the thyme. Spread 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan,
turn on the heat and fry the leeks until they are translucent. Add the
thyme and the mushrooms and fry them until they are done. That takes
around 10 minutes. Finally add the spinach, mix everything well and cook
until the spinach has wilted. Season with salt and pepper and let the
vegetables cool down. Actually, I had prepared the vegetables one day
before my dinner. Resting in the fridge overnight helped the aroma of
the thyme to permeate the vegetables.
The next step is to cook the quinoa. A slightly bitter, protective
substance that needs to be washed off before cooking covers these tiny
grains. Just wash the quinoa like you would any other kind of grain like
rice, until the water remains clear. Drain the excess water. Spread 2
tablespoons olive oil in a pot, turn on the heat and roast the quinoa
until it has turned golden brown.
Now add 4 cups of liquid and a good teaspoon salt. I actually drained
the excess liquid of my spinach-mushroom-mix, diluted it with water
until I had 4 cups and used it to cook the quinoa. You could also use
vegetable broth, or, if nothing else is handy, clear water. Let the
liquid come to a boil, and then turn down the heat. Simmer the quinoa
until it has soaked up all the liquid, around 15 minutes or so. Let it
cool down, and then mix it with the 4 eggs. It needs to be rather cool;
otherwise it would cook the eggs and you need the eggs to hold the pie
together.
Now it is time to assemble the pie. Spread the remaining 4 tablespoons
of olive oil over the bottom of the pie dish. This might seem a bit
much, but it helps to form a crust during the baking of the pie.  The
problem with vegetarian recipes is many times a lack of texture. You
want to make sure to add some crunchy bits and pieces. My gas oven
delivers heat from the bottom. The olive oil in the pie dish not only
prevents burning, but also helps also to develop a crunchy layer. Now
spread about three thirds of the cooked quinoa over the bottom of the
pie dish.
Mix the rest of the quinoa with the vegetables and spread it over the
quinoa. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top. Bake in the oven at 190
degrees Celsius for about 25 minutes. The sesame on the top should turn
into a lovely golden brown. I gave my pie a few minutes from the grill
to achieve this result. In an electric oven this might not be necessary.
Quinoa, Incan ‘gold’ from the Andes
 The
ancient grain quinoa has enjoyed a well-deserved renaissance in recent
years. Already 3000 BCE, quinoa was a staple of the people living in the
Andes Mountains of South America. Around 250 different varieties of
this plant, a relative of spinach and beets, grow in many different
conditions.
Quinoa can tolerate high altitudes, thin and cold air, hot sun, salty
and sandy soil, little rainfall and even freezing temperatures. The
Incas considered quinoa a sacred crop, as valuable as gold. Then the
Spanish came and forced them to grow wheat, but this was only a
temporary setback for quinoa.
Scientists call quinoa a pseudo cereal, because it looks and is used
like a grain, but is in fact a seed. Some people label it super food due
to its amazing nutritional profile. It is gluten-free, yet packed with
proteins, fibre and phytonutrients.
Quinoa contains all nine essential amino acids, which makes it a
complete vegetable protein, something other grains lack. Quinoa has more
healthy fats than other cereals, even small amounts of omega-3 fatty
acids.
It provides plenty of calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper and iron.
Amazing is its content of antioxidant phytonutrients that fight
inflammation in our bodies. Quinoa contains more quercetin and
kaempferol than in high-flavonoid berries like cranberry or lingonberry.
 Unfortunately,
every development in today’s globalized world brings light and shadow,
like I mentioned in the introduction. Due to the renaissance of quinoa,
prices have risen in the producing countries, making it now too
expensive for most of the population – not to mention the cost for the
environment when you ship food all around the globe.
Most of the quinoa consumed today still comes from South America. In
2010, Peru and Bolivia produced 99 percent of commercially grown quinoa.
However, farmers have started to grow quinoa now also in the USA, in
Europe, Africa and even in the North Indian plains and high altitude
areas of the Himalayas. Let’s hope, we can buy quinoa grown nearby in
the not so distant future.
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