Wednesday 4 April 2012

The Grains With No Name

I've been buying the Food Doctor instant pots recently, as part of an on-and-off drive to eat a bit more healthily and lose a little weight. However, at the same time we've been meaning to cut back our food bill a little, too, and paying £1.39 a throw for what's essentially some grains in a pot began to seem a little excessive; so I trawled a few pages search results for some likely recipes, to see how to approach it, and came up with this for starters. It tastes not bad at all.

One third of a cup of quinoa
Two-thirds of a cup of bulgar wheat
A handful of green lentils
Two cups of fresh chicken stock
A small onion, chopped
Two cloves of garlic. minced
A tablespoon of tomato puree
A teaspoon of ground cumin
Half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper
A squeeze of lemon juice
A splash of white wine
Two handfuls of baby spinach
A handful of fresh coriander, chopped
Olive oil
Salt

Heat the olive oil - a couple of tablespoons should be plenty - in a thick-bottomed pan for which you have a lid, then soften the onion for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Stir in the tomato puree and cook for another minute.

Tip in the bulgar wheat, quinoa and green lentils and stir to coat. Add the white wine and let it bubble for a few seconds, then pour in the stock. Stir in the spices, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer on the lowest heat for twenty minutes. Fold in the spinach and a squeeze of lemon juice and season to taste. Add a little more stock if necessary. Put the lid back on and cook for another ten minutes, until the lentils are tender, then serve with chopped coriander. I might add a little halloumi or feta when I take it to work tomorrow...