Quinoa w/ Apples, Red Chilis, & Walnuts
This walnut and apples quinoa combines fresh apples, homegrown red chilis, apple cider vinegar, tamari, and fall favorite spices. I used yellow onion, garlic, cumin, coriander, nutmeg, tamari, apple cider vinegar, and walnuts. Although you can easily mix and match in your own favorite produce and spice blends. Apples, chili peppers, and walnuts give a quintessential fall taste without going so far as the pumpkin spice lattes. Quinoa is also delicious with pumpkin and other squash in it, though. So, maybe they are onto something. I still wouldn't put coffee in it, but perhaps they're onto something! I could see myself putting chocolate in quinoa at some point.
Equipment
- Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 apple diced
- 2 red chilis fresh, diced
- 1/4 yellow onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- dash salt
- dash pepper
- dash cumin
- dash coriander
- dash nutmeg
- 1 ½ c. quinoa
- 3 c. water
- 1/8 c. tamari (or soy sauce)
- 1/8 c. apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 c. walnuts crushed
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients, except for the tamari, apple cider vinegar, and walnuts, into a rice cooker. I like to start with the larger produce and then add the smaller ingredients. Top with the spices. And then add the quinoa and water.This cooks the larger vegetables on the bottom, while dispersing the flavor profiles in the middle. Although with some mixing, this really doesn't matter all that much. Everything will eventually cook together!
- Press the cook button on the rice cooker. It should take about 45 minutes to cook.
- When the quinoa is fully cooked, let sit for 10 minutes and add the tamari, apple cider vinegar, and walnuts. Then, fluff with a wooden spoon and serve.Do not use a fork or other metal utensil. It will scratch off the nonstick surface on the rice cooker. This will leach teflon into your food and cause future dishes to stick to the bottom.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
- While quinoa is not rice, it does cook the same and oftentimes better than rice in a rice cooker. For more tips and tricks to rice cooker quinoa, check out my article on The Fundamentals of Making Quinoa, including a stovetop version if you don't have or don't want to use a rice cooker.
- I also tend to prefer tamari over soy sauce. They're both made from fermented soy and a lot of recipes use them interchangeably. Tamari tends to have a richer flavor and less salt content. It also tends to be gluten free.