I promise!

My friend Sarina introduced me to quinoa last weekend and it is now my new favourite food to experiment with.

What you’ll need; ingredients wise (serves 4):

2 cups quinoa; red or brown
2 oranges
8 dates
8 figs
4 rashers of bacon
8-10 mushrooms
garlic
1/2 cup cashew nuts
1/3 lemon, juice
spices: cajun spice (2/3 tsp), chilli (1/3 tsp), tumeric (2/3 tsp), cinnamon (1/3 tsp), all spice (1/3 tsp), salt & pepper to taste – combine altogether with a tablespoon of olive oil.

Rinse your quinoa and make sure there are no stones or dirt in it. In a pot put the quinoa and 4 cups of water (basically 2:1 ratio for water:quinoa). Bring to the boil, then let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

TIP: It is ready when the grain gets a ring around a clear centre (as above).

Mix all the spices, olive oil and lemon juice together.

Fry the bacon and then chop it into bits.

Chop up the mushrooms, throw them in the pan you cooked your bacon in (extra flavour) add some crushed garlic.

Peel the oranges and chop each segment in half. Cut up the dates and figs. Pour the cooked quinoa into a large bowl, add dates, figs, oranges, cashews, spice mixture, bacon and mushrooms.

Mix everything thoroughly and taste test. If not spicy enough, add more tumeric & cajun seasoning. Salt & pepper to taste. Serve hot, warm or cold. It tastes good at any temperature. And if you’re anything like me you’ll make tonnes, so there’s some left over for lunch the next day.

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