Quinoa w/ Daikon, Walnuts, & Lime
This daikon quinoa combines red onions, ginger, garlic, limes, tahini, tamari, rice vinegar, olive oil, walnuts, tofu, salt, and pepper. It's one of my favorite basic meals to make and keep throughout the rest of the week to mix and match into other dishes. It's a great way to keep things fresh and interesting with what you already have on hand. Especially when you mix in fun and new ingredients.
Equipment
- Rice Cooker
- Skillet
- Stovetop
- Paper Towels
Ingredients
- 1/2 c. daikon diced
- 1/4 c. red onion diced
- 1 tsp. ginger minced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 lime juiced
- 2 tbsp. tahini
- 1/4 tbsp. tamari
- 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- dash salt
- dash pepper
- 1 c. quinoa
- 3 c. water
- 1 c. walnuts crushed
- 8 oz. tofu
- splash high heat oil
Instructions
Cook Quinoa
- Add all of the ingredients, except for the tofu and walnuts, into a rice cooker. I like to start with the larger vegetables and then add the smaller ingredients. Top with the spices and citrus juice. 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. While quinoa is not rice, it does cook the same and oftentimes better than rice in a rice cooker. It typically takes 30-45 minutes.
Fry Tofu
- While the quinoa is cooking, drain the water out of the tofu and cut into cubes.
- Wrap in paper towels to absorb the moisture.It's important to absorb as much water out of the tofu as you can. Oil is less dense than water, so the molecules repel one another. With cold ingredients, this causes separation. When you're frying at high temperatures, though, this can cause boiling hot oil to spray back at you.
- Meanwhile, preheat oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.
- When the skillet has preheated and the majority of the water has absorbed into the paper towels, carefully add the tofu to the skillet. Fry until golden brown. This should take about 2-4 minutes. Rotate until all sides are evenly fried.
- Remove from heat and wrap again in paper towels to absorb the excess oil.
Finish Quinoa
- When the quinoa is fully cooked, add tofu and walnuts.
- Fluff with a wooden spoon and serve, either immediately or make ahead of time and refrigerate.Do not use a fork or other metal utensil to fluff! 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.
- For a more in-depth article on preparing tofu, check out my article on The Fundamentals of Fried Tofu. Tofu is a surprisingly simple ingredient to work with that is very often overcomplicated. There are some easy pitfalls to avoid for perfectly soft tofu with a nice, crispy fried edge. Using a minimal amount of oil and avoiding the hard, dried out consistency of over-baking or deep frying!