I recently borrowed Cooking With Quinoa: The Supergrain from work. It’s a great resource for quinoa recipes, and here is a lamb dish that I’ve adapted. The only time-consuming part was grinding a tablespoon of cumin seeds – as I have quite weak wrists I find using a mortar and pestle not that easy, but I do prefer to grind the spices freshly as I need them. I sat outside in the sun with my neighbour, grinding away whilst stopping regularly for champagne liquid refreshment to keep me going!
Lamb With Quinoa
2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium brown onions, cut in half & thinly sliced
500 gms minced lamb
5 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp cumin seeds, whole
1 tbsp cumin seeds, ground
3/4 cup quinoa (rinse it if you prefer)
1/4 cup black rice
1 tbsp light soy sauce (I like Pearl River Bridge)
1 tsp chilli paste
2 cups hot water
1 cup frozen peas
1 red chilli, sliced
10 dried prunes, roughly chopped
preserved lemon & low-fat Greek yoghurt, to serve
Heat the olive oil in a large deep pan, and saute onion until soft and golden. Add lamb mince and cook until well browned.
Stir in the garlic, cumin seeds and ground cumin, and cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
Add the quinoa, rice, soy sauce, chilli paste and water. Stir, cover and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the quinoa is almost cooked.
Stir in the frozen peas and prunes, and cook for a further 8 minutes. Add the sliced chilli and cook for a final 2 minutes.
Serve with pieces of preserved lemon and yoghurt, if desired.
Serves 4.
Happy Fooding!
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