Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Moroccan-style Quinoa with Butternut and Chickpeas

I made a tasty vegetarian quinoa salad with Moroccan spices the other night, very loosely based on on this recipe from Closet Cooking. I liked the idea of his salad, particularly his spice mix, which I made to spec, but I used different ingredients for the salad base, according to what I had on hand.

Here's how my substitutions broke down:
  • I used regular quinoa rather than a mix of red and regular
  • I substituted butternut squash for the carrots
  • I steamed a bunch of spinach towards the end of the quinoa cooking
  • I used toasted almonds in place of the pine nuts
  • I threw in dried cranberries where raisins were called for
In the end, the spice mix complimented these ingredients very well!