quinoa fried rice [vegan style].

Hola! I won't talk your ear off too much about my vegan journey. I started this journey in February 2015, and have been on [and occasionally off] ever since. Recently, I had a conversation with myself about my slips [which were pretty much only when I was broke and limited to mom's cooking, when there was free food around and I lacked self-control, or when my friends hosted gatherings and I don't want to be "difficult"]. I have since realized that the key to staying on track is not finding the best faux meats, but simply to go back to my reason for converting. My reason for being vegan is to be consistent in every aspect of my life. To spend time with my cat, but then eat a slaughtered chicken's body is hypocritical. I don't want to live my life that way. Also, I am someone who puts centipedes on a napkin and walks them outside to be free, versus crushing their little bodies with my sneakers. Someone of this nature should not be participating in the genocide of living beings - so here I am! In any event, I have been trying to get more creative in the kitchen as double-insurance that I remain consistent with this lifestyle change. I googled how to make fried rice, and remixed it a bit. Please keep in mind that I am someone who doesn't measure, unless I have to (i.e. quinoa), so feel free to use your judgment. Enjoy, Kings & Queens!

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa [I used white/tri-colored, but you can use any grain here]

1 cup broccoli [chopped]

1/2 cup snow peas [trimmed/chopped]

1/2 of a bell pepper [diced]

1 chopped zucchini [diced]

2 cloves of garlic [finely chopped]

1/2 leek [chopped, and feel free to substitute with onion or scallion]

1 teaspoon of ginger [grated]

salt, to taste

several douses of low-sodium soy sauce, to taste

coconut oil

2 cups water

1. I used a sauté pan out of laziness, but feel free to use a pot. Wash and drain quinoa, and sauté dry in your pan on high. I like my quinoa browned, I don't know about y'all! Add water and bring down to a boil, then put the fire on low, and cover. Stir occasionally [try to use a fork once the water evaporates so it remains fluffy and not mushy]. Yuck!

2. In this time, I was chopping the veggies. Add coconut oil to another pot, and sauté only the broccoli, snow peas, bell pepper, and zucchini. This finished before the quinoa cooked, so once sautéed, remove from fire.

3. Once quinoa cooks, put the veggies under medium fire. Add cooked quinoa, and stir. Stir in leeks, ginger and garlic, then remove from heat. Add salt first, then use your judgment with the soy sauce. Voila!

I actually just bought leeks for the first time, and I will definitely purchase them again. They are truly a cross between onions and scallions. The taste is rather pronounced, and it stands out in dishes. Please be sure not to add too much ginger in this dish unless you LOVE ginger. I made Thai green curry for the first time recently, and got a little bit too cute with the ginger grating process. Needless to say, it was so aggressive that it took over the dish. The recipe made such a big pot, and I suffered through it all week. YIKES!

Let me know how it turned out!

Peace, Kings & Queens

xoxo

Shanelle Julia Rosita Campbell

#food #vegan #protein