A veggie- & protein-packed Quinoa Fried Rice from Keys to the Kitchen by Aida Mollenkamp! A healthy, easy vegetarian weeknight dinner. Gluten free.
Time to get excited – I have another giveaway!
Aida Mollenkamp’s new book, Keys to the Kitchen, is a new food bible. I planned to post this yesterday, but the book has so much that summing it up in a post is a nearly impossible task. In fact, it took me about 20 minutes to explain why I love this book to Jack (and I talk fast, so you don’t want to know how long a post that would be). Simply put, the book is beautiful, informative, helpful, and will make anyone, at any skill level, a better cook for having the tools it provides at their disposal. If you cook at home, you want this book.
One of my favorite things about the book is how each recipe has a “takeaway” and some suggested “riffs.” Aida takes you through the basics of a recipe and then shows you how to get creative… which is the part of cooking that I love the most. I was immediately drawn to the quinoa fried rice – I always have some quinoa in the fridge, Jack will never say no to having “eggs” and “fried” in his dinner, and fried rice is one of the most “riffable” dishes you can make. This turned out delicious, and I’m sure I’ll be riffing on this one pretty often.
this giveaway is now closed, a winner has been notified.
special thanks to Chronicle Books for hosting this giveaway.
Mushroom & Edamame Quinoa Fried “Rice”
- ½ tablespoon grapeseed or olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 4 oz shiitake mushrooms, stemmed & sliced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- A few handfuls chopped kale
- 1½ cups cooked quinoa
- ½ cup frozen edamame
- ¼ cup thinly sliced basil or cilantro
- 2 (or 3) large eggs, beaten
- 3-4 teaspoons soy sauce or tamari
- Sriracha or red pepper flakes
- Sliced almonds & sesame seeds
- Toasted sesame oil, for drizzling
- Sea salt and fresh black pepper
- Seared tofu or other protein (optional)
- Heat the oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat, and swirl to coat the pan. When the oil shimmers, add the garlic and green onions and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms and ginger, season with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 5 minutes.
- Add the kale, quinoa, edamame, and basil, toss to coat with oil and heat through. Cook until the grain is golden brown, about 3 minutes.
- Make a well in the center of the mixture, exposing the pan bottom. Put the egg and soy sauce in the well and stir until just cooked through. Break up the egg mixture and stir into the grain-vegetable mixture, stir-frying until the edges are golden, about 3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning with sriracha or red pepper flakes and additional soy sauce.
- Top with sliced almonds, sesame seeds, and a drizzle of toasted sesame oil & serve.
One of my favorite tips has to do with cleaning–if you leave a baking sheet in an accessible (but out of the way) place, then put all of your ingredients you’re done with on there–at the end they’re all in one place, and you only have to take one trip to the pantry and fridge to put them away!
My greatest strength in the kitchen is cleaning as I go. Keeps me organized and on schedule!
Love your website; i bought one of those “make zuchinni into spaghetti” things and use it all the time.
My tip is when you are using just a Tablespoon of things like tomato paste or adobe chilis, portion the rest into 1 T. (or one chili) clumps on a cookie sheet, freeze them, then put them into plastic bags so you can grab just what you need in the future. Hate throwing away the rest when not using for a while.
I’m glad you like the zucchini noodle maker!
I love this tip… I always end up tossing the end of the tomato paste when I don’t find a new use for it soon enough.
I love the idea of a cookbook with riffs! Thanks Aida and Jeanine!
My favorite tips are all about substitutions! I am essentially gluten free, but I still prefer to avoid carbs the majority of the time. So I substitute the pasta in pasta recipes with shirataki noodles or spaghetti squash. I try to use Cauliflower instead of rice or other grains. And I use almond flour whenever i bake! It’s easy to be healthy if you know good substitutions to try fun recipes and not cut EVERYTHING out!
When you have extra ginger root, peel it and stick it in a freezer bag. The next time you need a little bit for a recipe, you can just grate off as much as you need right from the frozen piece. It saves you from a crisper filled with rotting ginger!
i like to clean up dishes as i go so there is no huge pile at the end
One of my favorite kitchen tips is to put bananas in a brown sack on top of the fridge to brown them faster for banana bread.
My kitchen tip is whenever you have a dish that’s been cooking/simmering/roasting away for a long time, make sure to add some fresh herbs at the end to bring some freshness to the flavors.
Thanks for hosting this giveaway!
Having a designated “garbage bowl” or plastic bag hung nearby to help with clean-up of vegetable peelings, food wrappers, etc. Time saver for sure & helps keep the counter clear of mess!
Clean up as you cook!
my best kitchen tip from my mum: mince lots of cloves of garlic in a food processor, dump into a freezer bag and flatten it out and score into 2 inch squares. Keep one square in the fridge to use for easy cooking! and when you run out in the fridge, you can just break off a square from the freezer and stick it in a sauce tupperware in the fridge.
My favorite tip is to rub some oil on the skin of your potatoes before baking. Makes the skin nice and crispy!
Thanks!
This is a combination gardening and cooking tip. It’s so easy to grow your own herbs like parsley, rosemary, and basil. Then you’ll always have some on hand when you need it.
My favorite tip is more about food-storage. I do a lot of home preserving and found out you can write on glass jars with Sharpie and use rubbing alcohol to take off the writing when you change it!
Using parmesan rind to flavor broth or soup; I used to always just throw it out.
Yes, this is one of my favorites! Adds so much depth to soup!
My favorite kitchen tip is to always, always, always brown your butter for chocolate chip cookies. On the healthier side, always cook a double batch of lentils and quinoa. You’ll need a double batch after eating the brown-butter chocolate chip cookies.
One of the best tips I got while cooking with a friend of mine (who is any awesome cook), is that a little squeeze of lemon juice (or any acid) at the end of a dish really brings it to another level. This book looks great!
Love the idea of quinoa a la fried rice. My kitchen tip is simply to prepare all your ingredients before you start cooking and to clean up as you go. Makes the whole process a lot smoother.
Kitchen Tip: Always dance in the kitchen while cooking/baking and listen to the dance music as loud as possible! So much fun! My kids, now adults, love this to this day! ! ! !