Tomato-Quinoa with Vegetables
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Serves: 6
Ever discovered an ingredient you loved and just tried to wear it out in your cooking? I discovered tomato bouillon in a Mexican grocery store and the flavor is amazing! I was familiar with only chicken and beef flavors of granular bouillon most of my life, sadly, but my shopping radar has become sharper lately, and I am seeing more and more updated or improved products from my childhood.
If you cannot find the ground tomato bouillon, you can substitute tomato paste for the tomato flavor. Even tomato powder, if you can find it, will be a good substitute. It won’t be quite the same though, because of the other flavors in the bouillon. It’s not the healthiest of products, so choose which “tomato-y” ingredient you’d like to infuse your quinoa. I love to season quiche with the tomato bouillon.
If you do not use the tomato bouillon, but opt for the tomato powder or tomato paste, taste for salt before you add the quinoa. The bouillon supplies enough salt that I did not add any to the low-sodium vegetable stock. However, the powder and paste forms will not have enough salt. As the rule in cooking, taste as you go (safely with common sense, of course).
If you have a rice cooker, by all means, use it instead of the stovetop method to cook your quinoa. I use mine for quinoa all the time, but not everyone has one of these small kitchen appliances. Making quinoa on the stovetop is fine and does not affect taste or texture.
Choose vegetables that will cook in about the same time. Even though I chose carrots, which can take a while to soften, I diced them quite small so that they would cook perfectly with the other vegetables.
I have added an optional “dressing” below, but truthfully, the quinoa is crazy-good on its own. The recipe calls for stone-ground mustard, but you can use something like a Dijon. The quinoa has textures of its own, so adding a really grainy mustard won’t mess with the overall texture. You may love the dressing so much you drizzle it on your salads! My husband, Mr. Carnivore, even liked this quinoa with the dressing. It adds a pop to the dish.!
If you make this Tomato-Quinoa with Vegetables, let me know!
Love quinoa? Check out my other recipes: Tex-Mex Quinoa and my copycat First Watch’s Quinoa Power Bowl with Pesto, Chicken, and Tomatoes.
Enjoy!
Tomato-Quinoa with Vegetables
Ingredients
- 3 cups low-sodium vegetable stock, or water
- 2 tablespoons tomato bouillon, or tomato powder, or tomato paste
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly-cracked black pepper, to taste
- 1 1/2 cups quinoa, see Notes
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup onion, small-dice
- 2 carrots, small-dice
- 1 bell pepper, seeded and small-dice
- 1 small yellow squash, or zucchini, small-dice
- 1/2 cup sweet peas, fresh or thawed from frozen
- 2 tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped
Dressing (optional):
- 1/2 cup oil (neutral, olive, or extra-virgin)
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, or red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon grainy mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh herbs, minced, optional
- salt, to taste
- freshly-cracked black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- If you are using the dressing, make it first so it has time to sit and the flavors to marry.
- In a 1 or 2-cup measuring cup, combine the oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, herbs and pepper flakes, if using. Taste for salt and pepper and add as desired. Set the dressing aside while you make the quinoa.
- Bring the stock and bouillon up to a boil in a saucepot with a lid. Carefully taste. Add any salt and/or pepper as needed. If you used the bouillon, you probably won’t need to add any extra salt.
- Add the quinoa, stir, and place the lid on the pot. Bring back up to a boil.
- Turn the heat to a low simmer.
- Simmer the quinoa for 15 to 25 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. (Begin checking after 15 minutes.) Remove the pot from the heat and allow it to sit for 5 minutes.
- While the quinoa is cooking, heat the oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat.
- Add the onion, carrots, bell pepper and squash. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, to taste.
- Sauté the vegetables, stirring often, until just softened, approximately 5 to 10 minutes, depending on your heat source. Remove the pan from the heat, do not cover the vegetables.
- Carefully remove the (hot) lid off the quinoa and fluff with a fork.
- Add the cooked veggies and peas; gently toss together. Stir the dressing and drizzle over the quinoa, and gently toss again.
- Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
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