benazir's blog

Black Bean Quinoa With A Salad

Actually as you can tell I really love quinoa. It is from South America and it is very healthy. Just like fonio it is a healthy carb and does not have any starchy water when you rinse it. I am going to jump right to the recipe because the picture has been in my archives for the longest and I have at least 20 more recipes to write after this post.

The black bean quinoa gets cooked in the instant pot this time because you need to cook the beans first which has to be pressure cooked first. Take 1 cup of black beans and add them to a large bowl. Add 1 pinch of baking soda and fill it up with water to let it cover the beans and let them soak for at least 1 hour two.

Rinse the beans several times and set this aside. On the instant pot set the saute function for 10 minutes. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil and when it gets hot add 1 onion or shallot cut in to half moon slices. Cook this until it becomes brown. Add 4 cloves of garlic chopped, Add 1 pinch each of cumin seeds and peppercorns and grind in to a coarse powder. Add this to the onion and garlic mixtute. Stir and add 1 pinch each of basil, oregano, marjoram and rosemary.

You can add either 1 drop of hot sauce or 1 chili of any type. If you are using a super hot chili like scotch bonnet or habenero, I caution you to remove the seeds before adding. I buy them fresh and freeze them to keep them from going bad right away. Dried chilies will work too just as well because you want that pleasent kick that will wake up your tastebuds.

Add 1 bullion cube, 1 pinch of African black mushrooms, the black beans you have been soaking then rinsed, 3 dashes of maggi or knorr aroma, 1/2 gallon or 2 liters of water and stir. By this time the cooker would have shut itself off. In case if it doesn’t then place the pressure cook lid on the cooker and select pressure cook for 20 minutes then start. Also the condinsation collecter has to be on in the back and the cooker set to sealing before starting the cooking process.

Place the steam diverter on the cooker and press the quick release or let pressure escape naturally. This depends on how much time you have. If the bean is a little tough then you can repeat the pressure cooking process. After this when the beans are soft then you can again tap the saute button and start. From here add 1 cup of quinoa that has been rinsed. Make sure you use a strainer to make sure there is no quinoa falling in to the sink when you drain the water after rinsing. Add the rinsed quinoa in to the black beans and add 3 tbs of capers and up to 10 Spanish olives. Please make sure they are pitted and buy the ones in the jar. Centro is a very good brand I love them a lot.

However if you wish you can slow cook this quinoa in the black beans after they have been cooked for at least 1 to 2 hours. Just place aluminum foil over the top to make a nice seal and then the glass lid. This will keep you from running back and forth to empty the condensation collector. Make sure the cooker is on slow cook for 1 or 2 hours and tap start button. This is again depending on how much time you have. After the quinoa is cooked and absorbed then you can go ahead and make the salad. The cooker shuts off by itself.

For the salad all you need is 1 head of Boston baby lettuce. This lettuce I wash and tear in to tiny pieces, 1 onion or shallot in half moon slices and the lairs seperated, two cucumbers sliced thinly, 4 radishes sliced thinly and 1 container of either grape or cherry tomatoes. The salad can be eaten with saldad dressing of choice.

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