QUINOA BIRYANI

QUINOA BIRYANI W/ SLAW

High powered plant protein dish which is bursting with flavour. 

I made this dish for my 7 day reset cleanse at the end of the summer focusing on alkaline plant based dishes. This dish is so good for you on many levels. 

It's something I love to make quite regularly. Biryani is traditionally made with rice but I wanted to switch it out to make it less carb focused and increase protein. You can add spinach or other veggies to this dish and it will work really well. 

 The perfect midweek dish.

2 servings

QUINOA

• 1 measured cup quinoa

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil

• 4 cloves

• 4 cardamom pods

• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder

• himalayan salt

BIRYANI INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoon coconut oil

• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

• 1 onion (sliced)

• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder

• 1 teaspoon cumin powder

• 1 teaspoon fenugreek powder

• 4 garlic cloves (sliced)

• 1 thumb size piece ginger (finely sliced)

• 225g french green beans (sliced into 1cm chunks)

• 50g spinach

• 1 teaspoon garam powder

• black cracked pepper

• himalayan salt

SLAW

• 100g red cabbage (finely sliced)

• 1 carrot (julienned)

• bulb fennel (finely sliced)

• thumb ginger (finely grated)

• 1 juice of a lime

• himalayan salt

GARNISHES

• extra virgin olive oil

• juice of a lime

• teaspoon nigella seeds

• teaspoon sesame seeds

METHOD

First, boil 400ml of water in a kettle and keep aside.

rinse the quinoa in a fine sieve under cold water. put a saucepan on medium heat. 

add coconut oil, cloves, cardamom pods, turmeric powder and himalayan salt to the pan. give it a good stir. After 30 seconds add quinoa again, giving it a good stir. Allow the quinoa to take some heat off the pan for a minute, stirring it with all the lovely spices. Fill the pan with boiling water (400ml) and give it a good stir. Bring to a boil then simmer. Please follow packet instructions for cooking times. When its cooked pop a lid on it and set aside. 

Put another frying pan on medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil along with cumin seeds, when the cumin seeds start to pop (usually takes around 1 minute) then add the sliced onion. Caramelise the onion until golden; this could take about 5 minutes or more, sprinkle a touch of salt and keep stirring throughout. Add turmeric powder, cumin powder, fenugreek powder, give it a good stir and allow the spices to temper. After about 1 minute add another tablespoon of coconut oil along with garlic and ginger, keep stirring for a few minutes so they can soften. Add the green beans and allow them to get coated in all the nice flavours. Add a dash of water and allow the beans to cook with everything else for about 15 minutes. just until they are tender. To speed up the process put a lid on the pan so they can steam. 

For the slaw squeeze some lime over the fennel to prevent it from discolouring before adding everything into the bowl. Add everything into a bowl and give it a good massage with your hands and then set aside. Once the quinoa is cooked, take it off the heat and pop a lid on the sauce pan for 5 minutes. Then spoon out the quinoa into the frying pan with the green beans and spices and fold it through the biryani base so the quinoa takes on all the lovely flavours. serve the quinoa into a bowl with some slaw and give a nice garnish with seeds, extra virgin olive oil and lime juice.