Hello it is me again. It is so lovely to see you again. Do you remember my black mushroom rice and my black mushroom pasta? This is black mushroom quinoa that I had come up with. Mr. Riaz is tired of rice and wanted something else so I came up with this.
We all know that quinoa is very healthy. What I did first was wash 1/2 cup full of beans and put it in a pressure cooker unseasoned with 1 tiny pinch of baking soda and 6 cups of water. Turn on the heat to high and let the pressure build and the safety button pops up and let cook for 30 minutes. Turn off heat and let pressure escape by itself.
If the beans are still a little hard then add 3 more cups of water if needed and turn back on the heat and cook for 10 minutes then shut heat off and wait.
The types of beans used are any type of red, black, white and brown beans, dried green or yellow peas can be used and green or brown lentils. I prefer the whole lentils and peas then the split ones for this dish. Also pink beans plus adzukis are acceptable too. I used red cowpeas. What the hey it is even ok to use lima beans.
When the beans are done, do not drain the juice because you will need for the rest of the dish. Make ginger garlic onion paste which is the first part before you make the jerk paste recipe. If you are planning on adding 1 habenero or scotch bonnet then it isn’t necessary to add the red chili powder or hot pepper sauce. Only make jerk paste if you are planning on barbecuing or have a taste for Jamaican food.
The seasoning that goes in this quinoa dish has part of the components by the way. In a coldero add 1/4 cup of olive oil and the ginger garlic paste only which I had made before the rest of the components that made up my jerk paste. Cook the ginger garlic onion paste until the rawness goes away.
Add to mortar and pestle 1 pinch each of coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, 1 broken piece of cinnamon stick, 1 clove, grind until it is a coarse powder and empty it in the pot with the oily mixture. Add 1 pinch each of thyme, basil, marjoram, oregano, 4 mini sweet peppers or 1 bell pepper any color except red. The bell pepper part is optional.
Also if you did not add the habenero or scotch bonnet while you made the ginger garlic onion paste then you can add either 1 pinch of red chili powder or 1 drop of pepper sauce. I decided to add 1 drop of Trinidad scorpion pepper sauce. It is very hot so proceed with caution. If that is to hot for you then go with the not so hot tobasco.
I stirred and added 1 maggi black mushroom cube, 3 pinches of desiccated or shredded coconut, either 3 dashes of adobo, seasoned salt or 3 pinches of vegtea seasoning, 3 dashes of maggi or knorr aroma, 1 cup of quinoa I had washed and added it to the pot and stirred. I added the beans including all of the juice which fit very nicely. I turned the heat to low and let it cook for 15 minutes or until the quinoa has absorbed all of the water. I covered and let stand 10 minutes before serving.
This is a perfect dish to serve with jerk ribs etc. also you can serve it with fried or boiled plantain. I will do a boiled plantain recipe in the future Inshallah.
So far Mr. Riaz loves it. We hope you like it too so enjoy.
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