Thursday, November 17

Spicy Thai Chicken & Quinoa

Okay I think I am addicted to quinoa cooked in chicken broth.  I cooked another meal with it last night and there were no leftovers!  I think this is a good thing.  Anyways, I started cooking a recipe from Quinoa: The Everyday Superfood 365, but realized I didn't really have any of the required ingredients that would generate Thai Cashew Chicken and Broccoli on Quinoa... I was so super close to rummaging thru a bowl of trail mix and picking out the cashews, but thought better of it - I was after a QUICK meal, not a pawed-thru meal.  Anyways, here's what I came up with:



Spicy Thai Chicken & Quinoa
Ingredients:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced into bite-sized chunks
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger root
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup quinoa
1 tsp sesame oil
2 cups brocolli florets
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion (white and green parts)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 red thai chili, minced
3/4 cup water
3 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp agave nectar

Method:
Get your quinoa on: bring the broth and quinoa to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat and put a lid on it to simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside until dinner's ready - fluff with a fork, yada yada yada - yah, I act like I'm a pro with quinoa now.

In a bowl, combine soy sauce, hoisin, garlic, ginger and Thai chili.  Add chicken and let marinate for a bit - the cookbook says you can do this for up to 24 hours, but I guess that would be for someone who is actually on the ball and remembered to take out ingredients the night before.  I just mixed it all up and cooked - still tasted great!  In a large skillet or wok, heat sesame oil.  Add chicken and marinade and cook over medium high until done, about 8-10 minutes.



While that is happening, in another bowl, combine water, peanut butter and agave.  Set aside.  Get your brocolli, green onions and cilantro ready because things will start happening quickly!



Once chicken is cooked through, add brocolli and the peanut mixture.  Crank the heat up to high to get things going.  When you think the brocolli is almost there, then chuck in the green onions.  After about 5 minutes total, you'll see the sauce is pretty thick and lovely.

Serve over the quinoa and then garnish with cilantro.  How easy was that?  The downsize is that there wasn't really any leftovers so we had to go out for lunch today - which was okay too ;)

5 comments:

  1. Yum! That sounds good - I love everything with peanut butter!

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  2. I love that book!! And I think I love quinoa about as much as you do. This is a dish I could go for... nicely done!

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  3. This looks fantastic! I love to cook my bulgur in chicken broth the flavor is just awesome :)
    Great flavors in this dish, love the cilantro with broccoli mix!

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  4. I really like the look of this one - great post - quinoa - super stuff!

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  5. Loved the idea of a Thai style Quinoa!Awesome :)

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