Sunday, November 14, 2010

MOFO - Day 14 - Iron Chef - Quinoa

The iron chef ingredient this week is quinoa. Now I love quinoa in so many ways. I wanted to do something reflecting fall and Thanksgiving. I also managed to make it gluten free for my sensitive friends and readers. Quinoa is an amazing seed (it is not actually a grain). It is a complete protein all on its own which makes me love this cute little nutritionally packed ingredient even more.

I thought about making something very healthy, but seeing as I just acquired a brand new deep fryer, my inner fried food loving fiend won out. I was very pleased to discover that quinoa makes an incredibly crunchy coating for fried treats. To keep with the chile theme, I used two types of chiles in today's dish: hatch green chiles and serrano chiles.

Red Inca Quinoa Crusted Hatch Green Chile Croquettes with Serrano - Lime Cranberry Sauce



Serrano Cranberry Sauce

Makes just under 1 cup

1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup water
8 oz fresh cranberries
1 teaspoon tequila
1 tablespoon lime zest
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice
1 serrano chili pepper, seeded and finely minced

In a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat. place all ingredients in pan and simmer until thickened, stirring frequently. This should take between 15-20 minutes. Cranberries will pop as they cook. Be careful of splattering. Once thickened, remove from heat.

Red Inca Quinoa Crusted Hatch Green Chile Croquettes

Makes 20 croquettes

3 large cloves garlic minced
2 tablespoons red onion, finely minced
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 tablespoons minced roasted Hatch chiles (you can sub any type of roasted green chiles)
1 1/2 cups roasted mashed sweet potatoes
3/4 cup corn flour
3/4 teaspoon ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon teaspoon salt (to taste)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 cups cooked red inca quinoa

Preheat deep fryer or oil in deep pan (with enough oil to be 2 inches deep in pan).

In small saute pan over medium heat, saute garlic and onion in olive oil until onion is just soft, about 2-3 minutes. In large bowl, combine garlic, onion, chiles, sweet potatoes, corn flour and dry spices until well combined. Form 1 tablespoon of mixture into a ball.  Roll ball into cooked quinoa, coating evenly. You may have to press quinoa into ball. Carefully drop balls into oil. Do not crowd. Fry for 3-4 minutes until croquette is golden dark brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve with toothpicks and side of cranberry sauce.

8 comments:

  1. These are AMAZING! I love that there's tequilla in the sauce.
    :)

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  2. Thanks! The quinoa makes them nice and crunchy on the outside. The nice thing about the quinoa is that it stays more crunchy than other coatings I've used.

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  3. Wow, they look perfect! I love quinoa but haven't cooked any in a while, this is getting bookmarked!

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  4. I'm honored. I ate them cold today and the quinoa was still crunchy!

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  5. Thanks! I made them again for Thanksgiving. They just have such a fun crunch!!

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