Mexican Quinoa with Kidney Beans
Originally this recipe started out as a Mexican quinoa salad recipe. I had a recipe saved to try and then when I went looking forward I couldn’t find it anywhere. So I just threw together a few ingredients in a pot and came up with this. It’s a very light, very quick simplified version of chilli that turned nothing like what I was going for but it was still delicious! I’m a bit bummed I didn’t have any real chilli in my kitchen so I have to resort to using a little extra chilli flakes instead. It still tasted amazing in the end. You could use the left overs to turn into a salad the next day by adding lettuce, cherry tomatoes and diced avocado.
I really think beans of any variety are one of the best ways to get quality plant based protein into your diet. I don’t eat them nearly enough as I would like, mostly because they can be a little rough on the digestion. The way I was taught to use beans when I was growing up is the best way to use them. It involves using dried beans, soaking them over night, then boiling them on their own about three or four times over and discarding the water each time before adding any other flavours. This ensures the removal of most of the indigestible starchy sugars found in beans and other legumes and makes for a happier digestion. But who has time for that?? I use this method sometimes when I’m making a bean soup from scratch. But generally I use canned beans for the convenience. I must admit I do still like to rinse and soak the canned beans for at least 15 minutes, preferably more, before I use them. I have found that it really helps! Try it and see if it makes a difference if you struggle digesting beans.
| Mexican Quinoa with Kidney Beans | Print |
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 small red capsicum
- 1 can organic diced tomatoes
- 1 can organic red kidney beans
- ⅓ cup corn kernals
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- ½ tsp red chilli flakes
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 ½ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp tumeric
- salt to taste
- Garnish:
- Avocado slices
- Vegan sour cream
- Coriander leaves (optional)
- Rinse quinoa under cold water before cooking.
- Boil quinoa in 2 cups of water until water has absorbed.
- Dice onion and capsicum and saute in pot with a little oil until onions have browned and capsicum is soft
- Crush garlic in garlic crusher and add to pot. Cook until becomes fragrant.
- Add remaining dried spices as well as canned tomatoes, kidney beans and cooked quinoa and cook for 10-15 minutes further (or longer to let flavours develop if you have the time)
- Mix in corn kernals
- Top with vegan sour cream, lime juice, avocado and fresh coriander (if you like coriander)
- Serve with good quality corn chips or whole-wheat tortilla chips.
