Tamari Chickpeas with Teriyaki Quinoa

I am always banging on about tamari soy sauce. It is wheat free soy sauce that I think has a richer flavour that plain ole Kikkoman. Quinoa  (say it keen-wa) is a seed and not a grain--even though it looks like a grain --and when it cooks the germ separates and each seed has a little sperm tail that comes out and curls around. Adorable! You do need to rinse it to remove any of its natural bitter coating. I like to serve this with some steamed veg. I used sugar snap peas, carrot and red pepper.

These recipes come from Dreena Burton’s cookbook Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. Her cookbooks are wonderful--especially her baking ideas. Who knew whole grains with low sugar could taste this good? But I digress. This is not a pudding post. Her food is awesome as well as this recipe attests.

Tamari Chickpeas and Teriyaki Quinoa

Preheat your oven to 200 C/400 F

Tamari Chickpeas

2 tins chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 TB olive oil

1 ½ TB lemon juice

1 ½ TB tamari soy sauce

½ tsp agave syrup

Large pinch of rosemary

Mix all this in a big roasting tin. In the mean time while you wait for the oven to heat do the quinoa:

Teriyaki Quinoa

1 cup of quinoa

2 cups water

4 cloves crushed garlic

Mix these together in a wee dish and hold on to it for later.

½ tsp ground ginger (I use BART ginger paste)

3 TB tamari soy sauce

2 ½ TB agave syrup

3 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp toasted sesame oil

Sesame seeds for garnish

Put the quinoa in a sieve and rinse under a cold running tap for 1 minute to remove any naturally bitter coating. Put it in the pot with the water and garlic and bring it to the boil. When you turn on the burner for the quinoa, pop the chickpeas in the oven for 12 minutes.

When the quinoa boils, reduce heat to simmer until absorbed (about 20 minutes) When the chickpea timer goes off, take them out and stir and return to the oven for 13 more minutes.

When the water is (mostly) absorbed in the quinoa, add the marinade you made earlier and stir and put the lid back on the pan and let it absorb.

Steam any veg you want on the side at this time so it will all come out about the same time. Garnish with sesame seeds and you are good to go.