As part of my little experiment to go meat free, I decided to get mum in to help me out when I decided to cook! She suggested I cook her dish Spicy Spinach, which I have enjoyed for many years. The only thing we have changed recently is using coconut oil instead of other oils.

Traditionally, we ate this with every other Saturday with yellow rice, (mum uses turmeric for the colour!), and kurhi, a heated watered down yogurt, not great for my digestive system! Mum also enjoys this with chapati, naan or pitta bread, however, with my gluten intolerances, I guess I could handle wholemeal or jasmine rice, but I went with my tried and trust quinoa, made Indian style!

This dish is perfect for a light lunch or dinner, contains potatoes for some carbs (mum said sweet potato or butternut squash would make the dish too sweet, so I went with starchy potatoes!), iron and zinc from spinach and other spices to up antioxidants. You will also receive a decent amount of protein from 40 g of quinoa!

INGREDIENTS

Spicy Spinach

200 g spinach (we used a bag we’d frozen before)

50 g peas (we used a bag we’d frozen before)

¼ tin chopped tomatoes

4 charlotte potatoes

4 cloves garlic (we used a bag we’d frozen before)

2 cm ginger (we used a bag we’d frozen before)

2 green chillies (we used a bag we’d frozen before)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon dried coriander

1 teaspoon red chilli powder

1 teaspoon

2 teaspoon coconut oil

Pillau Quinoa

40 g quinoa

¼ onion

2 cinnamon sticks

200 mL of filtered water, boiled.

¼ teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Coconut oil

INSTRUCTIONS

Spicy Spinach

1. In a large saucepan, add in ¾ chopped onion, 2 teaspoon coconut oil peas, garlic, ginger, chilli, ¼ tin tomatoes, chopped potatoes, spices and seasoning, place on ½ heat and cover for 5 minutes whether ingredient are frozen or not due to moisture from the spinach;
2. Simmer on ¼ heat for 20 minutes and stir occasionally to mix;
3. Spicy Spinach is served! Yes really!

Pillau Quinoa

1. You can begin cooking this simultaneously with the Spicy Spinach;
2. In a saucepan on ¾ heat, add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil (put the water on to boil);
3. Slice and dice in the ¼ onion and stir, sauté until the onion caramelises;
4. Add in the cinnamon sticks;
5. Add in the boiling water and a ¼ teaspoon of salt;
6. Add the quinoa and stir gently;
7. Allow the quinoa to simmer, turn the heat down to a quarter, and cover with the lid;
8. Check on it 3 to 5 minutes later and gently turn the quinoa over with a plastic or wooden spoon to ensure you keep your quinoa seeds in tact;
9. Repeat step 8 until the quinoa is cooked and all the water evaporates;
10. You are now ready to eat!

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Eating time: 15 minutes

Serves up to 2 people

I made enough just for mum and I!

Let me know how you get on and please feel free to provide feedback 🙂