Hello everybody!

Today’s recipe is a little bit different than the others as this one is a very healthy recipe. Even though I love the food of my country, I have to admit that the cream, the butter, the cheese and the sauce are not really something that you should eat too often. I have found a great interest in vegan and vegetarian food, mostly because I always loved challenges when it comes to cooking but also because I love learning new things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discovering vegan food, for me, has been really exciting as it felt like I had to learn everything about cooking once again. None of the typical ingredients can be used and you need to know how to replace them. I know many people are not too open to vegan food. I often had reactions changing when they learned that my dish was vegan. Or they think it is not going to taste great because for most healthy food doesn’t taste good or it is because of the condescending and sometimes aggressive behavior of some vegans that simply made them dislike anything vegan related.

I know vegan food seems more of a trend these days but I think it is quite interesting when you are trying to live a more healthy lifestyle. I have been experimenting different recipes and this wild mushrooms quinoa is  one of my favorite meal now. I usually use mushrooms such as chanterelles, porcini or morels as they have a stronger flavor, but you can use any types of mushrooms. Also, for those who are not too much into vegan food you can totally make this recipe vegetarian.

Enough talking and let’s start cooking!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup tri-color quinoa
• 1 shallot
• 20g dried mushrooms (I used chanterelles and porcini)
• 1/3 + 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 1/4 cup mushroom broth
• 1 tbsp vegan butter (or regular butter for non vegans)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp nutritional yeast
• salt
• pepper
• herbs (basil, thyme, oregano)

Preparation:

1- Put your dried mushrooms in a bowl with hot water. Cover with cling wrap and let it sit for about 20 min. You can use fresh mushrooms if you prefer for this recipe.

2- In the mean time, rinse 1 cup of quinoa. Pour it in a pot and add 1 cup of water. Cover with a lid and cook until all water is absorbed. Once cooked, put the quinoa aside and keep the lid on.

3- Drain your mushrooms. It is important to keep the water of your mushrooms, so make sure to drain them on top of a bowl or any container.

4- Finely diced your shallot and the mushrooms. In a large pan, add a teaspoon of olive oil and one tablespoon of vegan butter (if you’re not vegan use regular butter). The combination of oil and butter will prevent the butter to become brown.

5- Once the butter is melted add your diced shallot. Let them “sweat” in the butter. When the shallot get soft, add your mushrooms. Add some salt and pepper to taste as well as some herbs. I have been using dried basil, thyme and oregano. I used about half a teaspoon for each. Cook for a couple minutes.

5- Add the wine and let it cook until the wine has almost completely evaporated. Add 1 tablespoon of corn starch. Mix well then add the soy milk ( if you are not vegan you can replace the starch and soy milk by cream). Add 1/4 cup of the mushroom broth/water that you saved earlier. If you used fresh mushrooms, simply replace with water.

6- Add the cooked quinoa and mix well. Then add 1 teaspoon of nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast give a little bit of a cheesy flavor but if you are not vegan you can replace it with some parmesan.

7- Cook for a couple more minutes and it’s ready!

You can eat it by itself or with a salad or vegetables. There are several steps to this recipe but it is really easy to make and very flavorful. I prefer using wild mushrooms for this recipe as this is what gives the flavor to this dish but it can easily be replaced by any kind of mushrooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you will enjoy this recipe! Let me know in the comment what you think about this recipe and if you liked it.

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