The weekend of quinoa comes to a close with this Toasted Quinoa w/Raisins & Toasted Pine Nuts. I love the flavors in this dish, which have a Mediterranean feel to them. Plus there’s the toasted flavor from the quinoa and pine nuts mixed with sweetness from the raisins. Everything blends together beautifully and makes for a delicious addition to the dinner table.
We had this with our dinner tonight, which in all consisted of roasted chicken breasts, this quinoa and some steamed carrots. It was an excellent meal full of nutrients and yummy flavors, just the way we like it in this house. 😉
PSA: whenever a recipe calls for toasted nuts, if you feel like being lazy and just using plain, untoasted nuts, don’t do it! Take the extra 5 minutes to toast them because the toasting process really enhances their delicious flavors. This is especially important for Low FODMAP and GERD/Acid Reflux cooking. Since you’re limited with the ingredients you can use, it’s important to maximize the flavor of all ingredients.
Likewise, toasted quinoa really adds something extra as opposed to untoasted quinoa. It will only take a few minutes to toast and since you’ll be using the same pan the quinoa gets cooked in anyway, it’s no extra mess.
I mentioned this in another recent post, but ground coriander is an amazing spice. It’s by far one of the best I’ve found to use in digestion-friendly cooking. On its own, I find it makes an excellent replacement in recipes that call for lemon juice. It doesn’t give the food the exact same flavor that lemon juice would, but it does offer up a lot of the same qualities. Also, I find that mixing ground coriander with ground cardamom, like in this recipe, makes for a tasty Mediterranean-like spice that could be used in recipes that call for cumin. Cumin, alas, is a common trigger food for GERD/Acid Reflux, and is definitely one that gives me a hard time.
With the toasted flavors and use of raisins, I think this dish would be an excellent addition to your fall menu rotation and it’s presentable enough that it could even have a place on the Thanksgiving dinner table. The next time you’re in need of a new side dish to try, give this one a go and let me know what you think. I hope you and your family like it as much as we do!
Toasted Quinoa w/Raisins & Pine Nuts
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa (uncooked, white variety) - rinsed thoroughly. If it's not rinsed well enough, it will taste bitter
- 1+2/3 cups water
- 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
- 1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp. salt (plus more, to taste, if needed)
- 1/4 cup (35g) pine nuts
- ~1/2 cup raisins (For IBS/Low FODMAP eating, you must use no more than 72g)
- 2 tsp. garlic-infused olive oil
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley (chopped)
Instructions
- Place the quinoa in a medium to large-sized saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally, over medium-high heat until the quinoa is toasted and fragrant (takes ~3-4 minutes). Once the quinoa is toasted, add the water and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and cook for ~15 minutes, until all the liquid has been absorbed. When the quinoa is done, add in the ground coriander, ground cardamom and salt, cover pan again and allow to sit covered while you toast the pine nuts.
- Toast the pine nuts by placing them in a skillet and cooking over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until golden brown and fragrant (takes ~5 minutes).
- Add the pine nuts, raisins, garlic-infused olive oil and parsley to the pan with the quinoa. Mix everything together and re-fluff the quinoa. Taste test and add additional salt, if desired/needed, then serve immediately.
Notes
*Information above is based on the specific brands/types of ingredients I used. Values vary if using any other brands/types of ingredients.*
*The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.*
