Quinoa & Black Beans

I bought a whole ton of quinoa from Costco during the oh-noes-there’s-a-hurricane-coming scare back in August… I had yet to make something awesome with them because I was trying to finish off all the rice I had. This has been made slightly easier by the fact that I gave/sold a 10 lb. bag of rice to one of my housemates (score!) in favor of a lower electricity bill this month. (I was going to just give it to her, but she offered to pay for it, so I bartered part of the utilities bill for it.)

Quinoa is pretty much considered to be a superfood, as it has a high protein content, contains the essential amino acids (and as such, is a complete protein), and is also rich in fiber, phosphorus, magnesium, iron and calcium. It basically takes on the flavor of whatever you happen to throw in with it. (I’ve never eaten it…plain…so I can’t speak for how that tastes.) It’s been pretty effing good in everything I’ve thrown it in so far. It’s also gluten-free if you have celiac disease or happen to be gluten-intolerant.

Know what I like most about it though?

You can apparently cook this stuff in a rice cooker. Oh hells yes, you did indeed read that correctly. I found that out after this recipe, but it’s a-okay, because I still have a giant bag of it left. ~1.5-2 cups of water for every 1 cup of quinoa!

I took this off of allrecipes.com and the original recipe called for 2 cans of black beans, but um. My pan was not that big and personally, I think 1 can is plenty. Alterations were made here and there. I think this turned out reallyyy well. Can be eaten hot or cold. The cilantro makes it extra awesome.

Quinoa & Black Beans

• 1 tsp EVOO
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled + chopped
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup chicken broth*
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• -1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• 1 can corn
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed + drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

*If you’re vegetarian/vegan, you can sub the chicken broth with vegetable broth!

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with chicken broth. Season with cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil.
3. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.
4. Stir corn into the saucepan, then mix in the black beans and cilantro.
5. Serve!