Posts Tagged ‘Chiari’

Happy Birthday, Chiari!

My dear friend had her birthday last monday, and in her honor I cooked a special dish last night. The recipe includes an Andean cereal, Quinoa, and a taste of ginger and lemon, which gives it an oriental touch. 

Quinoa happens to be a “recovered” species and has won a sustainability prize (or something like that… I only found out from Chiara herself after I told her about the dish).

The recipe is not my own, it’s from a yoga cookbook but it has some adaptations…

This is what you’ll need

1/2 cup dry quinoa
– 1/2 cup water
– 1/4 cup lemon juice
– 2 tablespoons soy sauce
– 1 tablespoon grated gingerroot
– 1 medium sized eggplant
– 1 small sized red bell pepper, chopped in thin strips
– 1 small sized grated zucchini
– sesame seeds
– fresh parsley
– soy oil 

Eggplants

Preparation:

Preheat oven at medium temperature. Cut the eggplant in thick slices and fry together with the sesame seeds until they get golden brown. Remove from the pan and place on a square oven pan. Prepare a sauce by mixing the water, soy sauce and grated gingerroot. Pour on top of the eggplant slices and put in the oven for 10 minutes. Then, turn the slices upside down and put in the oven for another 10 minutes. 

 

Zucchini and Pepper

Meanwhile, use the oil that’s left in the pan to stir fry the zucchini and the pepper. Put the quinoa and 1 cup of water on the stove, bring to boil and leave to simmer until all water is absorbed. Then mix in the frying pan with the zucchini and the pepper, and cook for some minutes.

 

 

 

Final results

After the eggplant is cooked (most of the sauce should have evaporated by now, spoon the mix of quinoa, zuchinni and pepper on top of the eggplant, and press until it’s compact. Put in the oven and wait until all of the sauce has evaporated.

 

Sprinkle fresh parsley on top and serve with a side dish of fresh salad.

Ta-raaa