Last night I made this quinoa salad for my family, I honestly did not think that they gonna love it, but I was wrong.
I love preparing this simple dish that contains everything, so easy and quick to prepare.
Ingredients :
1.5 cup of cooked tricolor quinoa
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup sliced onion (you can use red onion)
1/2 cup of each bell peppers, baby zucchini,
1/2 cup heirloom tomatoes (I skipped this)
1 cup or baby spinach
salt and peppers to taste
2 tbsp of lemon juice
Fresh basil
For the grilled chicken :
1 or 2 thin sliced chicken breast
For marinated :
1 crushed garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp honey
bunch of chopped fresh rosemary, thyme and sage
1 tsp lemon juce
Methods :
For the grilled chicken :
Mixed the marinating ingredients and marinade the chicken for couple hours.
Prepare grilling pan, I use iron cast
Grill the chicken until done, set aside
In the mean time, heat the olive oil and saute garlic and onion until fragrant. I know normally quinoa salad has raw red onion, but my family aren't too crazy about raw onion, so I used regular onion instead and saute-ing it together with garlic, I love caramelized onion flavor and I think it gives and bring the salad flavor to another level.
Next I add bell peppers, wait till it gets wilted (or cooked) I love it a bit crunchy so I did not cook it for too long, then throw in baby zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, salt and pepper.
Remove from the heat, add in the prepared quinoa and baby spinach then sprinkle with lemon juice, toss it couple times and transfer to serving dish. Garnish it with fresh basil and topped with sliced grilled chicken. Enjoy!!
For Napa cabbage
- 2 heads Napa cabbage
- 2 cups sea salt
- 8 cups water
For kimchi marinade
- 1 cup sweet rice powder
- 5 cups water
- 1 cup coarse Taeyangcho red chili pepper powder
- 5 ounces garlic
- 10 ounces Asian pear, peeled and quartered
- 9 ounces onions, peeled and quartered
- 1 ounce ginger, peeled
- 4 ounces Fresno chilies
- 2 pounds radish, julienned
- 4 ounces minari
- 4 ounces red mustard greens
- 4 ounces Korean chives
- 4 ounces green onions
- 1/4 cup Korean anchovy fish sauce
- 3/4 cup Korean salted shrimp sauce
- 4 ounces fresh shrimp, chopped
- 4 ounces Korean salted shrimp
METHOD :
Prepare Napa cabbage—Trim the cabbage by removing any brown leaves on the outer layers. Slice the center of the cabbage’s stem 2 inches deep. Using your thumbs and hands, pull the cabbage into two sections through the slit. Repeat for the remaining cabbage.
Soak the cabbage sections in salted water (8 cups water to 1 cup sea salt) for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the cabbage from the salt water and sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of salt between each of the cabbage leaves.
Return the cabbage to the salted water with the cut side facing up. Rotate the cabbage every two hours, bringing the cabbage on the bottom of the container to the top and vice versa.
After 5-6 hours, the texture of the cabbage will be properly rubbery. Wash the cabbage thoroughly and gently. Drain the cabbage in a colander, squeezing as much water from the leaves as possible. Set aside.
Prepare kimchi marinade—Combine the water with the sweet rice powder and whisk until smooth. Heat the water and rice powder mixture on the stove on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. When bubbles start to form, reduce the heat and continue to stir. Once the mixture thickens and becomes translucent (approximately 10 minutes), take it off the heat. Cool the mixture completely.
Once the rice powder mixture has cooled completely, transfer it to a large bowl. Add the red chili pepper powder to the rice powder mixture and combine well.
Place the onions, pear, garlic, ginger, and Fresno chilies in a food processor and pulse until finely minced. Set aside.
Add the pureed chili mixture, along with the radish, minari, red mustard greens, chives, and green onions to the rice powder mixture. Combine the mixture thoroughly, making sure that the greens are incorporated completely.
Lastly, add in the anchovy fish sauce, salted shrimp sauce, and fresh and salted shrimp. Once again, combine the mixture very well. If mixing with your hands, be sure to wear rubber gloves to avoid chili burn.
Prepare the kimchi—Take the cabbage and stuff the marinade mixture between the leaves, working from outside in, starting with the largest leaf to the smallest. Do not overstuff, but make sure the marinade mixture adequately fills the leaves.
When entire cabbage is stuffed, take one of the larger leaves and wrap it tightly around the rest of the cabbage. Divide the cabbage among jars, pressing down firmly to remove any air bubbles. Only fill the jar 80 percent full because the kimchi will expand as it ferments. Keep the jar tightly sealed and refrigerated for at least 20 days.