Quinoa Salad with Roasted Eggplant and Chickpeas

A hearty and wholesome savory salad to enjoy for lunch or dinner. This is a meal in itself, or it pairs really well with grilled meats, sausages, and other barbecue foods.

For 4 servings, you will need:

• 150 grams of quinoa
• 1 eggplant
• 1 can (400 grams) of chickpeas, drained
• 1 medium-size red onion or 2 small-size red onions
• A handful of fresh cilantro
• Some olive oil to roast the eggplant and chickpeas

For the dressing, refer to our sweet and spicy dressing recipe.


Preparation Time: 40 minutes
Resting Time: At least 1 hour if you'd like your salad cold


Start by pre-heating your oven at 220 C ( 430 F).

Drain the liquid out of the can of chickpeas, then rinse and drain them.

Rinse the eggplant, then shop it into small cubes.

Place the chickpeas and eggplant pieces in a large bowl. Add some olive oil and toss the chickpeas and eggplant pieces to have the olive oil coat your veggies.

Cover an oven rack with foil or parchment paper, and drizzle a little bit of olive oil.

Spread the chickpeas and the eggplant pieces on the foil, and place the oven rack in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, keep your eyes on it.

While the chickpeas and eggplant are roasting, prepare the quinoa per the packet's instructions - mine says one part quinoa for two parts water, and heat it up for about 15 minutes.

While everything is roasting and boiling, finely chop the red onion and roughly chop the coriander.

Once the chickpeas and eggplant are roasted and the quinoa is cooked, let them cool down for about 20 minutes.

Combine all the ingredients together.

Prepare the dressing by referring to our sweet and spicy dressing recipe.

Now, you have another decision to make!
If you would like to eat the salad warm, serve it right away after adding the dressing.
If you would like to eat the salad cold, which is my preference, cover the salad and place it in the fridge for at least one hour. Before serving, add the dressing, or simply let everyone help themselves to however much dressing they want to add.

Enjoy!

As with all the other recipes we put on this site, this is meant to be easy to follow. We are hobby chefs who love to cook, and we are always up for learning new techniques. If you know of anything in this recipe which can be done a different way, whether for increased ease of preparation or better taste, please add a comment below!

Whipped up by Charline Leblond

Sweet and Spicy Dressing

The combination of the sweet honey mustard, paprika, and cumin make this dressing sweet with a nice spicy kick.

It is super easy to make and will be wrapped up in five minutes.

This dressing will be perfect to flavor the roasted eggplant and chickpeas quinoa salad, and will  also be an ideal addition to empanadas (recipe to come very soon), or as a sauce in a vegetarian wrap.


For 100 milliliters of dressing:

• 2 tablespoons of honey mustard
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin

Preparation Time: 5 minutes


Start by grinding the cumin seeds in a mortar. If you don't have a mortar, you can smash them with a rolling pin, or use pre-ground cumin.

Once the cumin is ground, all the ingredients are ready to be combined.

Add all the ingredients in a salad shaker, and shake them well together.

That's it, the dressing is ready! Reserve in the fridge until serving.

Enjoy on your salad, as a condiment with empanadas, as a sauce in a grilled eggplant-avocado-red onion-feta panini, or inside a chicken-grilled-cheese sandwich, or anything else you might think of.

Feel free to add any suggestions, which could beautifully accommodate with this dressing.

As with all the other recipes we put on this site, this is meant to be easy to follow. We are hobby chefs who love to cook, and we are always up for learning new techniques. If you know of anything in this recipe which can be done a different way, whether for increased ease of preparation or better taste, please add a comment below!

Whipped up by Charline Leblond

Chicken Enchiladas

Sometimes, when I crave something a little south-of-the-border and I do not have the time to make pork carnitas, I find that these enchiladas tend to hit the spot. As an added bonus, they fulfill the main weeknight dinner criteria: Easy to make, easy to eat, easy to clean up. For one person, you can even skip the plate and eat straight out of the baking dish. And this recipe is really more of a guideline, because you can customize the flavors as much as you like, to suit your taste. Oh, did I mention this can be done in about 30 minutes?

I will make the following disclaimer: These are my version of enchiladas and I am well aware they are not "authentic", but they serve me well.

For 2 servings, you will need:

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
• 300 grams of salsa*
• 1 cup of chicken stock
• About half of a 435 gram-can of refried beans, or any other beans you like.
• 1 tablespoon of paprika
• 1 tablespoon of chopped coriander
• About 100 grams cheddar
• 1 Chili
• Hot sauce (Optional)
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 2 large tortillas

The paprika, coriander, chili and hot sauce are variables for you to adjust, depending on how you would like your enchiladas to turn out. Feel free to add other spices as well.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes - Count at least 10 more minutes if you're making the salsa the same day
Cooking Time: 10 minutes


First, pre-heat the oven to 200 C (390 F) and let's prepare the chicken.

In a hot skillet, add some oil and then the chicken.

Add the paprika, coriander, a dash of salt and pepper, and the diced up chili.

Mix everything well and keep tossing the chicken to brown.

Once the chicken has browned, add the chicken stock, bring it to a boil, and then reduce the heat until the stock simmers.

Cook until the liquid has evaporated and the chicken is fully cooked, approximately five minutes.

And now we are ready to assemble the enchiladas. I have already grated my cheese here, but you can grate the cheese directly over the enchiladas if you prefer.

So, the first thing I do is to add some refried beans on my tortilla.

Then I add the chicken, and some hot sauce.

Add a little bit of cheese, and wrap up the burrito.

Repeat for the number of burritos you want to make, this recipe is for two burritos.

In an oven proof dish, add a little bit of salsa.

Then add the burritos.

And cover with the rest of the salsa.

And finally, add the rest of the grated cheese on top.

You can make this in advance and keep it until dinner time. When you want to eat, pop it in the oven at 200 C (390 F) and cook for 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the salsa has warmed up.

If it is just for you ... well, I enjoy eating it directly out of the baking dish, which keeps it nice and hot.

Of course, you can also plate it, with some of the hot salsa poured over the burrito, and a side of tortilla chips.

Buen apetito!


*Note: You could by store-bought salsa, but you could also save money and enjoy fresh, home-made salsa by using our salsa recipe.

As with all the other recipes we put on this site, this is meant to be easy to follow. We are hobby chefs who love to cook, and we are always up for learning new techniques. If you know of anything in this recipe which can be done a different way, whether for increased ease of preparation or better taste, please add a comment below!

Whipped up by Shyamal Addanki

Hummus with warm pita bread

Hummus is a lovely dish to serve up for a snack, or by itself can make for a light lunch, or it can even be used as a spread on sandwiches. Its versatility is upped only by its ease of production; you can make a batch in 15 to 20 minutes, or even less if you buy some Tahini sauce (explained later).

But what is this "hummus" thing? Well, "hummus" is actually the root for the arabic word for chickpeas (or garbanzo beans if you prefer). The real name of what we call hummus is ḥummuṣ bi ṭaḥīna which basically means "Chickpeas with tahini". As you have correctly deduced, hummus is a spread consisting of chickpeas and tahini. You can buy tahini if you can find it in a store near you, but I'll show you how to make it in case you can't find it. And even if you can find Tahini; it is ridiculously easy to make, so why not just make your own?

You will need:

Tahini:

• 1 cup of sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Hummus:

• 2 small cans, or 1 large can, chickpeas
• The juice of one lemon
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• Salt
• Pepper
• Paprika
• Olive Oil

Lets start with the Tahini.

Add your sesame seeds to a skillet (without oil) and roast them for 4-5 minutes on medium heat.

As soon as the sesame seeds start turning brown, take them off the heat.

And add them to your food processor with a tablespoon of olive oil.

Now start the machine. We are going to be working this for about five minutes, don't worry if it seems clumpy at first, the sesame will take a few minutes to release its oils.

Just keep it working until you end up with a smooth paste.

Congratulations! You just made Tahini! I know, it tastes a little bland, but there is no salt or other seasoning in this. It makes for a great base for other things, like baba ganoush, and of course, hummus!

Now set this aside in another container and lets get ready to make hummus.

See that thing in the bowl? That is the liquid from the cans of chickpeas. We are going to use this liquid, so don't drain your cans into the sink.

Add the chickpeas, half the liquid, about 2 tablespoons of tahini, the garlic, the juice from the lemon, and about a teaspoon each of salt and pepper into the food processor.

And blend for 4-5 minutes. Once it has become a paste, feel free to taste and adjust as you need to. You can add more pepper and salt for taste, and you can add more of the reserved liquid if it is too thick. I like to add a tablespoon of smoked paprika, but that is up to you. I also added more salt and pepper. After making your adjustments, just re-blend until it is homogeneous. 

And, we're done! I like to serve my hummus in a shallow bowl, and dress it with fresh parsley, more paprika, and freshly ground black pepper. Also, drizzle just a bit of olive oil on top of the hummus. Finally, serve with warm pita bread.

As with all the other recipes we put on this site, this is meant to be easy to follow. We are hobby chefs who love to cook, and we are always up for learning new techniques. If you know of anything in this recipe which can be done a different way, whether for increased ease of preparation or better taste, please add a comment below!

Whipped up by Shyamal Addanki.