Quinoa and Red Rice Salad

One of the things I really like about Whole Foods is that you can buy a small amount of rice, grains, pulses etc. from their self-service section. We don’t have a lot of cupboard space so are limited in what we can store, a selection of rice, pasta, lentils and beans are of course essential but with more unusual items, it’s good to be able to buy a small amount at a time.

Not knowing whether quinoa was going to make it on to the “must have” list, I just bought enough for one meal and cooked it this evening as part of an Ottolenghi recipe. Despite the widespread love for Ottolenghi, I’ve never cooked any of his recipes before. I find it difficult to get excited by meat-free dishes and his long lists of ingredients are somewhat off-putting for someone who doesn’t like following recipes. This seemed like a very manageable dish though and I had everything I needed. Or so I thought. I wasn’t intending to use apricots or oranges but I forgot that I needed rocket so what we ended up with was a considerably watered-down version of the original.

We both enjoyed the flavours; the contrast between the cooked onion and the raw, spring onion was particularly good and perhaps the missing ingredients would have improved the flavour but I couldn’t help thinking it would have been infinitely better if served up with some barbecued lamb. I’d make a rubbish vegetarian wouldn’t I?

As for the question of whether quinoa is going to be making a regular appearance, I’m not sure. The nutty flavour was interesting and I would like to try it again but, for now, I’m glad I didn’t commit to a whole bag.