Quinoa Pongal

Blogging Marathon# 28: Week 4/ Day 2
Theme: BM Pairs
Dish: Quinoa Pongal from Suma's Veggie Platter 

For day 2 under "Cooking from BM members" theme, I'm paired with Suma @ Veggie Platter. Suma has been blogging for over 6 years and I've probably known her virtually for almost 5 years. Her blog is filled with ton of delicious Andhra, Karnataka and kid friendly recipes. I love the way she writes her recipes, she makes everything seem so easy even the most elaborate ones.

I've tried a lot of recipes from Veggie Platter in the past. Her onion-tomoato raita, tomato bhath have become our household favorites too.

Suma has some very innovative and delicious Quinoa dishes. I decided to make her quinoa pongal. I had some whole moong dal that I cooked for this recipe and I used that instead of regular moong dal. Here's how I made the dish.

Ingredients:
Quinoa - 1 cup
Moong dal - ½cup (I used whole moong dal, but regular moong dal can be used)
Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Ginger - 1" piece, finely grated
Cashews - 1tbsp (optional)
Curry leaves - a few
Ground Pepper - ¼tsp
Green Chilies - 2
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Rinse quinoa well to remove the saponins, the protective coating on the grains. If left on, it might cause the dish to taste bitter.
• Bring 2 cups of water and 1 cup of quinoa to boil in a medium saucepan. Lower the heat and simmer covered until cooked through, about 20 minutes.
• Cook moongdal until tender and mix with the quinoa. Add salt to taste.
• Alternately cook both quinoa and moong dal together in a pressure cooker or directly on the stove.
• Heat 1tbsp oil in a small saute pan; add cumin seeds and once they start to crackle, add green chilies, curry leaves, ginger, cashews and ground pepper. Cook until it starts to smell fragrant. Add the tempering to quinoa mixture, mix well and serve hot.

I served with a curry and chutney.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today for BM# 28.

Sending this to Mireille's Mission Foods: Whole Grains event that was started by Pallavi & Sheelu.