Author Notes: As a grand-daughter of Armenians I am well acquainted to pilaf and I love bulghur. When I first tasted Quinoa, I immediately fell in love with it and detected some similarities. Yet, when I actually started cooking my recipes with Quinoa substituing it for the wheat grain I discovered a whole new world. It is tenderer and delicately nutty flavoured and has an unbeatable characteristic…it is gluten free! This recipe was inspired by my ancestral knowledge of cooking pilaf. It is a perfect combination of taste and texture: the sweetness and softness of the butternut squash against the nutty crunch of the quinoa cooked in the onions and garlic fry and hightened by the distinct intensity of the curry. All of this topped by a variation of the traditional “persian mix” that is both crunchy and sweet —bonheurcuisine
Serves: 2 as a dish/ 4 as a side
Ingredients
-
1/2
butternut squash
-
1
tablespoon ground sea-salt
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1
onion, finely chopped
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2
garlic cloves, finely chopped
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2
tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
-
1
tablespoon honey
-
1/2
tablespoon hot madras curry
-
1
cup quinoa grain
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2 1/2
cups vegetable broth
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2
tablespoons ghee
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1/2
cup blonde raisins
-
1/2
cup dark raisins
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1/4
cup pine-nuts
Directions
- 1. Cut the butternut squash into ½” inch dices and add the ground sea-salt
- 2. Preheat oven to 220 C and place the diced butternut squash on an oven tray lined with parchment paper for 20 minutes or until crisp and golden
- 3. In a pan, on medium fire, pour the 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and sauté the chopped onion with the chopped garlic cloves
- 4. Add the honey and the curry and stir. Allow to cook for a minute
- 5. Wash the quinoa thoroughly, add to the pan and stir
- 6. Pour 2 cups of vegetable broth and allow to boil
- 7. Lower the fire and allow the liquid to evaporate, if necessary add ½ a cup more of the broth until the quinoa is tender
- 9. Add the raisins and the pine nuts and stir a few seconds until they are lightly toasted
- 10. In a serving bowl combine the curry quinoa pilaf with the roasted butternut squash
- 11. Add the raisin mix as a topping
- *For this presentation I molded the Curry Quinoa Pilaf with Roasted Butternut Squash and garnished it with the raisin mix as a topping
/533261df-915e-4364-946b-0035b0cc3b5a--Curry_Quinoa_Pilaf_with_Roasted_Butternut_Squash_and_Raisin_Mix.jpg "Curry Quinoa Pilaf with Roasted Butternut Squash and Raisin Mix 2")
