They say that the first Monday in January is the most depressing day of the whole year. Even though I don’t technically work in an office, being back at my desk after a week of colada drinking and beach frolicking, followed by another week of stew eating and couch hibernating, was a colossal bummer. I couldn’t even bring myself to write this post yesterday. And it’s a sad day when I’d rather reorganize my medical insurance papers than write about quinoa.
Perhaps it was the lingering nerves that went into making this quinoa that ultimately lead me to procrastinate writing about it for nearly a month.
Back in December I was invited to a potluck. Ordinarily, potlucks are my jam. They’re a completely no pressure way to cook and host, and having written an entire section of my cookbook about perfect portable dishes to make for them, and being the owner of probably 10+ url’s with the word potluck in them (who says hoarding can’t be virtual), I should have been preparing for it with my eyes closed. But this particular potluck was being co-hosted by Dana Cowin. So, yeah…there was that to consider.
Dana is in the process of developing recipes for her upcoming cookbook. So she enlisted her friend (and my mentor) Cheryl to help gather a small group of fabulous females to taste test and contribute to the meal. Since I’ve had some recipes in Food & Wine, technically Dana has already eaten my food. But in high-pressure scenarios, rational thinking like that rarely comes into play.
I knew that the cookbook dishes being tested were Korean meatloaf and kimchi pickles, so I decided to go with an easy fried rice to round-out the pan-Asian spread. A few weeks prior, my client had asked me to make traditional fried rice but substitute quinoa. She was convinced that if it had all the same flavors and elements of fried rice, that her kids would not notice the slight textural difference at the heart of the dish. I was skeptical at the time, but it did indeed fool them. And that’s probably because the textural difference made it so much better than 90 percent of the fried rices I’ve ever eaten.
The beauty of using quinoa – which is generally a lot less fussy to prepare than rice – is that you don’t have to make it in advance and let it dry out. If you use fresh rice versus stale leftover grains from a take out container, the final dish ends up being a little mushy. The grains don’t toast as well in the pan, and when they’re not over the hill and starved for hydration, they don’t absorb all the flavors you add to them. Quinoa, on the other hand, can be cooked to al dente without being too toothsome in the middle. And when you finish it in the pan, you get the benefit of all that flavor being infused into the grains (a la a pilaf) and the sturdy texture that a good fried rice demands.
I think it went over well. At least, according to instagram it did. But perhaps you should be the judge of that. The secondary bummer of the first Monday in January is that we’re expected to stick to our healthy resolutions (at least for a week), but it’s so cold outside all I want to eat is a pound of rice. Luckily, health hacks like this quinoa are not a bad compromise. So long as I can procrastinate writing about them.
xo
Phoebe
Quinoa Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons coconut or vegetable oil
- 4 medium carrots (preferably assorted colors), diced
- 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
- 4 scallions, white and green parts separated, thinly sliced
- Sea salt
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sriracha
- 2 eggs, beaten
Instructions
- In a medium lidded saucepan, combine the quinoa and water and bring to a boil. Cover, turn the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes, until the quinoa is al dente. Uncover and remove from the heat.
- Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large wok or nonstick skillet. Saute the carrots, shallot, and white scallions over high heat until soft and beginning to brown, about 6 minutes. Season with salt. Add the garlic, ginger, and green scallions and stir fry until fragrant, another 2 minutes. Fold in the quinoa and stir fry until well-coated in the vegetable mixture and beginning to toast, 3 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce, sesame oil, and sriracha.
- Push the quinoa to the side of the pan to create a well. Pour the eggs into the well and cook, stirring gently, until nearly set. Toss the fried rice with the eggs. Transfer the quinoa to bowls and serve right away.
Nutrition
It’s a good thing you got it done in the end! Because I’m to cook this tonight for my brother Lenny!
LOVED IT! Happened to have all the ingredients in my pantry, so threw it together for lunch and it’s delicious … will probably add more things to it next time, like more veggies and maybe some chicken … thank you!
This recipe is delicious! I really wanted to make fried rice, but to my surprise I did not have brown rice, but it did have plenty of quinoa. I did a search on Pinterest and found this! It is perfect:) thanks
awesome! love that you happened upon it. hope you’ll come back for more xo
I was in the mood for “Fried Rice” however I really did not want to eat “white” rice. I know Quinoa has great protein whithout the animal protein. So I googled and got this an WOW! I LOVE it. I added a hand of green peas and hand of bean sprouts only because I like them in my Fried Rice. Great recipe almost ate the whole pan myself. OINK!
oink oink! I love it! don’t worry, I usually do the same. Especially with fried rice. that’s the nice thing about making it healthier. we don’t have to feel like such piggies! xo
Love this idea, so simple, healthy and easy to make! Will be making this for dinner. Btw, Love your Blog, thanks for sharing all your wonderful recipes.
-Jen
Thanks Jen! I’m thrilled you’re going to try it! Please report back 🙂 xo
I’ve been looking for new ways to have more quinoa and this looks like a really flavorful recipe! the thing is, I’m not a huge fan of soy sauce (don’t everyone gang up on me at once). would it be terribly tasteless if I left that out?
not at all! just make sure you season with salt so it’s not too bland. Let me know how it turns out!
Coconut aminos are a great substitute for soy sauce
I think it tastes better
Phoebe, this recipe is amazing though! I was so happy when I happened upon it. My roommate and I have had it a few times now
ooo I’ve never tried coconut aminos just the bragg liquid aminos! and those do taste great in the fried rice! thanks for the rec 🙂
Wow, what timing!!!!!!! just the recipe I have been looking for…I’ll try it today and let you know how it came out…thanks so much
Great! Enjoy Ruth! Hope you loved it
This was incredible! I made a few substitutions -mushrooms, bell peppers, kale, green and yellow onions- based on what I already had. The ginger, garlic and coconut oil combined was delicious. Definitely going to be a staple in my repertoire.
xx
Allison
Otis Unfiltered
love the idea of adding kale, Allison! Coconut oil works so well for the fried quinoa. One of my favorite parts about this recipe. xo
It says corn, edamame and peas added at the end but there’s no mention of that in this recipe.
Hi Stephanie, where do you see that written? Maybe it was another recipe you came across? I’ve never made the quinoa fried rice with those ingredients. I’m sure they would taste great though mixing in right after the egg. Hope this helps!
Excellent recipe. Delicious.
Rinsed quinoa, then cooked it.
Mixed sesame oil, sriracha and soy sauce together: kept in a bowl.
Once quinoa was cooked, I sauteed frozen mixed veggies + 4 garlics.
Didn’t add anything else, yet still yummy.
Fabulous Katie! Thank you for making and reporting back!
That was a super tasty meal. Easy to cook too, so perfect for after a busy (mon)day!
yay!!
I’ve been looking for quinoa recipes and made this tonight – it was awesome! My family loved it. I will definitely be making this one again. Thanks for a new quinoa recipe to add to my arsenal!
fabulous! so glad you liked the quinoa fried rice!
Absolutely delicious! I was searching for a recipe for my red quinoa and found this. My boyfriend was a bit skeptical because he had never had quinoa before…and he loved it and asked for more! I will definitely make this and nit use white rice anymore. Thanks for sharing!
awesome. it’s such an easy swap. glad he liked it!!