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Friday, March 9, 2012

Quinoa With Cucumber And An Award


          Quinoa, it's a grain or a pseudograin, high in fiber, protein, manganese, well, the list goes on, but I am not going to bore you, copying everything from wikipedia here. Couple of years back, never heard of it, but now I simply love it. It's so easy to cook and can be had as a salad, can be used instead of couscous in Mediterranean dishes and also tastes great in pulaos, in the place of rice. This dish is very simple, needs very few ingredients, no masalas to grind, it gets it flavor from the sauteed cucumber. I added some black beans and roasted peanuts for the extra crunch and munch..
Need To Have
  • Quinoa - 1 cup
  • Cucumber - 1 medium size
  • Cooked Black Beans - 1/2 cup
  • Roasted Peanuts - 1/8 cup
  • Red Chilli Flakes - 1 teaspoon
  • Black Pepper Powder - 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon
  • Green Part Of The Spring Onions - 1/4 cup
  • Soy Sauce - 2 teaspoons
  • Brown Sugar - 1 + 1/2 teaspoon

Method
          Cook the quinoa with 2 cups of water (just like you cook rice) and cool it. Slice the cucumber, don't peel the skin, if there are lots of seeds, remove it. Heat oil, add the cucumber pieces, saute it for a few mins, till they change color but are still crisp. Now, add in the chilli flakes, sugar, salt and soy sauce, mix it, add the black beans followed by the quinoa, black pepper, mix everything well. Finally add in the peanuts and the spring onions, serve it warm.

Sending this to Spicy Treats for the Show Me The Hits - Fiber Rich Foods event,
                   to Food Corner for the Midweek Fiesta event,
                   to Vegetarian Food And Me for I'm The Star event,
                   to Sara's Corner for the Women's Day Celebration event,
                   to Zesty South Indian Kitchen for the Hearth And Soul Blog Hop event,
                   to Taste Of Pearl City for the Healthy Morsels - Pregnancy event,
                   to Srav's Cooking Concepts for Vegan Diets - Only Plant Based event and
                   to Shama's Easy2cook Recipes for Sara's Cooking With Love - Granddad Series event.


Note
Do not overcook the quinoa, don't mix it when it is still hot, it'll become mushy.
Also, the cucumbers should have the slight crunch.
Increase or decrease the chilli flakes and pepper according to your spice level.


           Coming to the award, I had sent my entries to Anzz Cafe for her first event Valentine's Special. She had posted the roundups, couple of days back, it was a huge hit, one would be surprised at the number of dishes and the creativeness of my fellow bloggers. Hats off to you Anzz, you have done an amazing job with the roundups, lovely presentation. I am proud to show off my participation award here.


       
And then, moving on to the exciting part, I was thrilled to know that I was one of the three winners of the giveaway. When I received the email, saying, you have a surprise waiting for you, I was clueless, I had totally forgotten about the giveaway. Well, Iam so happy to get this cookbook, first one of India's first MasterChef Pankaj Bhadouria, and looking forward to browse through it, thank you so much Anzz, am smiling cheek to cheek.
The other happy winners of this book are Manju of Manju's Eating Delights and Rashida of Inherited Spices.

Please do check out the roundups, it's in three parts, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.







39 comments:

  1. Hema ,Quin ova salad super clicks.Adding peanut very nice..

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  2. congrats hema. salad looks amazing.

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  3. You know after seeing this I am wondering why I never have cooked cucumber. I am always eating it raw. This is something I need to try, just to find out how it does cooked. Your recipe here is a great place to start. Delicious post.

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  4. congrats hema!! healthy salad looks amazing!!

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  5. Great salad! Congrats on your award!!!

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  6. Nice healthy salad. Congrats on ur win dear

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  7. I have quinoa...Cant wait to try this..Glad to follow ur space.

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  8. Congrats! ITs nice when you win something. The quinoa cucumber salad is very healthy and refreshing. You have my fav ingredient peanuts, I am sure it must be delicious.

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  9. Oh my god..such a mouthwatering dish..it looks just awesome...vl try 4 sure....congrats on award
    Maha

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  10. Did i congratulate u a lil early yesterday..Nah!!! a very well deserved one & wish u get many many more :).. Am waiting for the different combo you are going to whip up seeing the book now..great salad b/w :)

    Ongoing Event: I'm a STAR

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  11. Congrats Hema...u deserve it!!...such a healthy n wholesome salad...great recipe...thank you so much for linking to the event!
    Spicy Treats
    OnGoing Event:kitchen Chronicles - Summer Splash
    Ongoing Event : HITS~Fiber Rich Foods

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  12. Congrats Hema,lucky winner!! Quinoa ,though heard alot..never tried at home You are tempting me,love the bowl..yummy!!

    Cook in any recipe with "Cilantro /Cumin & Just link in EP Series-Cilantro /Cumin Event

    Erivum Puliyum

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  13. Congrats Hema dear, wishing you many many more success :-) Quinoa with cucumber sounds very tempting, thats a healthy bowl served. Very well presented dear :)

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  14. congrats hema.......many more!......the salad looks really tempting..very well presented.....don't get quinoa here..would dalia work?

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  15. hey congrats on winning the event! so lucky u won that book, hope u get it soon & hope to see u cook recipes from that book :) the salad looks so healthy

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  16. Congratulations Hema. I am yet to set my eyes on quinoa here in India..the dish sure looks yumm

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  17. yummy n healthy salad.....congrats dear....

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  18. congrats hema :)
    Thx. for sharing a healthy and delicious salad :)

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  19. I heard alot abou this quinoa but never tasted recipe sounds very healthy and yeehh congrats Hema.

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  20. Congratulations on the wonderful award!! Quinoa salad has become a regular snack in our office nowadays as we all are discovering the joys of this grain :) only problem is its not easily available... ur quinoa and cucumber recipe sounds refreshing!!

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  21. Congrats on the great award:-) The salad looks soo healthy and wholesome! Perfect!

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  22. wow... delicious recipe... stunning clicks... will try your recipe soon..

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  23. congrats... and healthy and yummy salad...

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  24. Very healthy and delicious salad! Gotta try it sometme!

    Do contribute some of your wonderful recipes to my ongoing event. Would be delighted :)

    Chef Al dente On going event: Gimme GREEN!

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  25. The quinoa looks wonderful! Congratulations on the award and also on winning the lovely book!

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  26. Wow, this is a great n healthy dish!! Would love to make this quinoa.
    http://cosmopolitancurrymania.blogspot.com

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  27. yes they say it's a healthy foods, i really love quinoa specialty your work congrats dear.

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  28. Congratulations on the award...what a lovely and healthy salad...I love peanuts and cucumber...so a win win combination for me :-)

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  29. Congrats on the award, so waiting for some lovely recipes from the cookbook :)

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  30. Congrats Hema.
    The quinoa looks so healthy n yummy.

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  31. I just fall in love with this yummyyyy healthy rice

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  32. Congratulations!!This delicious recipe is featured today @Midweek Fiesta!!I cant wait until I see what you bring for the party today...

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  33. congrats, delicious healthy salad, I haven't tried yet using Quinoa, sure need to try. Thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop.

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  34. Healthy one !! looks delicious !! Thanks for linking to the event !!

    Ongoing event CC:Vegan Diet - Plant Based Food

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  35. Congratulations Hema !!! Quinoa salad sounds very interesting and appealing to my taste buds :). Never tried quinoa before. Shall love to try ur recipe. Thank you for sending it to Healthy Morsels - Pregnancy :)

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