Tamarind quinoa

Tamarind rice is puliyogare, a Kannada dish. I have had it many times in my Bangalore office cafeteria. And more often now, as my daughter likes the taste of the spicy masala. 

I didn't make the puliyogare masala from scratch. I bought a ready to add masala powder, but included vegetables in the dish - pumpkin, cabbage, capsicum (some of which my daughter refuses to eat when made into a dish on its own ;-)). The masala contains some fried coconut pieces and groundnuts too.

The phenomenal elements are...

Quinoa - 1 cup

Water - 2 cups

Lemon - 1/2

Extra virgin olive oil - 2 tsps

Puliyogare masala - 2 Tbsps

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Pumpkin - 1/2 cup

Cabbage - 1/2 cup

Green capsicum - 1

The formula...

Warm up a saucepan and add oil. When it heats up, add the masala. Fry it for a few minutes. Add chopped capsicum, pumpkin and cabbage. Add salt and stir to coat the veggies with the masala. Stir fry for about 5 minutes. 

Add washed quinoa grains into the saucepan. Add water and juice of lemon. Mix well. Cover. Cook on slow heat until the water is absorbed and quinoa is cooked well. Stir quinoa and combine well with the veggies.

Serve warm with yogurt and pappad.