Stir-Fried Quinoa
On Friday night, Yancey was at the station and I opened up the fridge to see what could be thrown together. My inventory:
- Cold rice
- Leftover quinoa collard salad from my cooking class
- half a ziploc bag of shredded cabbage from my cooking class
- 2 small zucchinis
- 1/2 yellow pepper
- carrots
- a few sugar snap peas leftover from our Farmer’s Market picnic on Wednesday
- ever-present garlic and ginger
Stir-fry, obviously. I love pulling out my wok. It’s so heavy and dark, ready to transform any hodge-podge into something delectable. I made two batches because I knew my sister and her family were stuck on I-90 in the 100 degree heat waiting for a tow truck. I said dinner would be waiting for them once they made it back to Seattle. I managed to have brought the cantaloupe over from the other house and made some ginger mint iced tea. They were so bedraggled and tired by the time they got here, though the kids were amazingly chipper. Poor things.
There are two kinds of cooks--clean-as-you-go and whirlwind. Guess which one I am.
In this post, there’s been a little debate going on in the comment section about who’s suited to work on the “big” political things like healthcare and who’s suited to small loving acts of service. That’s a longer conversation, but I will say this–NONE of us are excused from small loving acts of service no matter what the bigger agenda. In fact, the bigger agenda doesn’t matter if it’s not carried out in the context of love and the little things have everything to do with the “big” things.
There was a time when I wouldn’t have offered to make dinner for someone unless I had gone to the store and gotten really serious about the endeavor. About 10 years ago, Yancey and I lived next to a multi-generational Latino household, and I credit them with my hospitality salvation. The daughter-in-law and grandmother worked together at one of the McDonalds downtown. When they got off work, there would be a little knock at our door, and they’d be standing there with a bag of leftover Egg McMuffins or apple pies. The grandmother was an excellent cook, so often when the doorbell rang, what we’d get was posolé or molé. But it didn’t matter what was in their hands–what mattered was the community being built between us and the small acts of kindness and generosity that were its building blocks. For me, those little things often involve food. In this case, Refrigerator Stir Fry.
Stir-Fried Quinoa
I used a mixture of rice and quinoa here because that’s what I had in my fridge. You can do that, or just use one or the other. If I was deliberately making this, I’d use all quinoa. And of course, there are so many other things you could put in here depending on what’s around. I love Hsiao Ching-Chou’s simple stir-frying tips if you think you might make a habit of this. You can also look at this old post of mine for more on stir-frying. This recipe makes enough for 2. If you want more, double everything and make two batches. Too much stuff in the wok at the same time just steams everything instead of getting it crusty.
2 Tb. vegetable oil
2 minced garlic cloves
1 Tb. minced fresh ginger
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1/2 yellow, red, or orange bell pepper, finely diced
2 c. finely shredded green cabbage
1 small zucchini sliced into very thin rounds
handful sugar snap peas, coarsely chopped
1 c. cold cooked quinoa, clumps broken up (and it must be cold)
2 Tb. soy sauce
1 Tb. sesame oil
sesame seeds
fresh cilantro or mint
Heat wok, cast-iron pan, or nonstick skillet on medium high heat. Add oil and turn down a tad. Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Then add carrot, pepper, cabbage, zucchini, and peas and fry for 1 or 2 minutes until crisp-cooked. Add quinoa, mix with veggies, fry for a minute. Add soy sauce to coat. Remove from heat, drizzle with sesame oil, and garnish with sesame seeds and cilantro or mint.
Does this mean I have to be a nice person? ‘Cause I was really hoping that falls into the “that was so last millennium” category.
Oh, and one more thing… In another blog post, could you go over the differences in grains? Some things are whole grains while other things aren’t. Cous cous (I think) falls into the “HA! Tricked ya into thinking I was a whole grain!” category.
:shakes fists at fake whole grains: tsk tsk you pesky non-whole-grainers!
you kill me. thanks for the good hearty laugh!
So THAT’s why my stir fry dishes always end up mushy! Thanks!
Mmm. Looks delish.
So am I understanding this right? Is your husband a firefighter also?
I am totally not a clean as you cook type either. I wish I was but just can’t do it. At the end of preparing a meal, it looks like a bomb went off in my kitchen. The only saving grace is that I have a huge sink, so everything just goes in there.
Hospitality vs. entertainment. Hospitatlity feeds the soul, entertainment nourishes the ego. thanks for nourishing and building community, We are all still recovering from the Martha Stewart Days!!! ….and constantly need this reminder.
Hi Mom. I love that distinction between hospitality and entertainment. xo
that’s some of the stuff I’ve been exploring in my blog, under hospitality and evangitality on the subtitles.
Hospitatlity feeds the soul, entertainment nourishes the ego…that was profound Peggy…I see the title of a mother-daughter book coming on.
I can’t wait to try this Sarah. Quinoa always ends up in my cupboard because I want to cook with it, but have been perpetually bored with it to date. This may be my lucky day.
I appreciate your food and your wisdom.
BTW..we had the Nash family for dinner last night to celebrate David being off probation (yeah!). We played badmitton (the Nashes suck), shared a meal that was quite good (the side was your lemony green beans), but it was the laughing that I think will stick with me. It was a night that fed the body and soul…thank you for keeping the connection right before our eyes.
As I have nothing with which to participate in the actual food conversation, perhaps I will continue to point out the foods about which I know nothing or very little. (But now I know a little more.) Today’s selection: quinoa. Okay, usually I have at least heard of the foods before! I consider myself moderately well-read, but obviously not in the food category.
I do know about working at McDonalds, opening shift, 5-9 am M-F as my second job. Show up in purple polo and visor, gray pants. Turn on biscuit ovens. Slice lemons for iced tea. When no one is looking, bite down hard onto one lemon slice to help wake myself up. Take frozen trays of biscuits out of freezer, put in oven, hit timer. Fill front ice bins. Make sure cups and lids are stocked. SMILE! Good morning, Mr. XYZ, how are you? Will you be having your regular plain biscuit with 3 strawberry jellies, 2 butters, and Senior Coffee? That will be $1.27 as usual. Have a nice day!
I’m pretty sure folks at my downtown ad agency complained more about their work conditions than the people I worked with at McDonald’s back in the day. Hmmmm. There’s something about the nature of contentment in there somewhere.
Ooops, sorry about this comment, I claim sleep deprivation as my excuse. And I’m hitting submit anyway….
Please don’t stop commenting even though you’re ambivalent about food. Clearly, you have lots of other stories to tell. I love this story about McDonalds, biting down on the lemon and Senior Coffee. You’re right about contentment…it doesn’t have to do with not frying french fries or the size of our paycheck.
Thanks, Sarah, for enjoying my ramblings. Important Clarification: I’m not ambivalent about food, just the art of making food. I ADORE FOOD. Food, glorious food! Bring it on!
What a great way to use quinoa. I bet it tastes even better stir fried with all that deliciousness. I love what you said about the big and the little things. It always starts small, but even small acts can start a revolution. I am really inspired to bake cookies for all my neighbors right now
Thanks.
You inspired me again tonight! Instead of eating the rest of the blue cheese potato salad for dinner and telling my family to fend for themselves, I rummaged through the fridge and found some cabbage, green onions and carrots about to go bad and utilized them in a stir-fry. It turned out reasonably tasty, and I was quite pleased with myself for using some of the produce that would have otherwise gone to waste. I’m loving your blog!!!
there you go girl, look at all that food that is now not going to waste, cuz people are getting bold with their leftovers!
We happened by your sister and her family, sweltering in their troubled Toyota nearly at the Snoqualmie Summit. I whipped off the road, backed up the shoulder, and tried to console the already “bedraggled and tired” bunch. We might have made things worse, as little Hannah Mae - dressed to party in a new polka dot skirt, bright top, and fun sandles - said a tearful goodbye as we continued on to the family gathering where she had anticipated camping in a relative’s back yard. So thanks Sarah, for your small act of kindness. No wok is big enough to contain a big heart.
thank God for whirlwind cooks, it’s the only way to keep the hubby in the kitchen cleaning as we go.
Sister, as I already told you somewhere (in person? fb? your blog already?), I was sitting in the back of the loaner Sienna (which is so nice, our family should just live in there!) feeding Ezra in tears, thinking, “If I just knew what we were doing for dinner tonight, I would be a little better right now…” There was a DQ right by the service center, but I didn’t want to end up feeling sick after dinner. Needed something nourishing. Then Michael got back to the van and said you had called. I started crying again. Thank you so much for this meal when we needed it most. I love that as we pulled up I knew you wouldn’t mind us all barging in for dinner even though I said we would just pick it up. We had to get out! It was such a treat for HM + E to see their cousins and Auntie after all that! Papa, we were so happy to see you…you didn’t make it worse…we were just loosing it by then! xo.
I LOVE that distinction between hospitality and entertainment!