Quinoa With Red Lentils & Basil

This is a fairly simple and tasty recipe for quinoa. If you like lentils, you will love this. The combinations of garlic, onion, lentils and basil is YUM. I highly recommend the fresh basil for this dish. If you are not a fan of basil - you are crazy... kidding! Anyway, you could try substituting with fresh cilantro, another of my favorite herbs.

The lentils, even though you can't really
see them, are the star of this dish (along with the fresh basil). Cooking them until they are super soft makes them sauce-like so that the flavor blends throughout the dish. Even my daughter, who does not care for quinoa liked this. She said it "fooled her mouth" because it makes the quinoa taste like lentils. I personally love quinoa and the texture is similar to rice or couscous. This dish is slightly addictive. It's a good thing quinoa is so healthy!

Quinoa is a perfect protein and one of the most protein rich foods we can consume. Forbes even calls it the "super-grain of the future". It contains a ton of fiber, iron, magnesium, lysine, manganese and riboflavin (B2). If you haven't tried quinoa yet, you definitely should. It's a very versatile food that can be used in place of rice or pasta. It's great in veggie burgers as well. Anyway on the recipe!

Quinoa with Red Lentils & Basil:
1.5 cups of quinoa soaked
1.5 cups of red lentils soaked
3 cups water (more or less)
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 medium onions sliced
6-8 garlic cloves minced
1 summer squash cubed
1 pablano pepper sliced
1 tomato diced
2 tbsp Braggs liquid aminos or gluten free tamari
2 tbsp hot sauce like sriracha or any cayenne pepper sauce
1 tsp plus 1 tbs sea salt (or to taste)
4-5 sprigs of fresh basil

Soaking Directions:
Soak your lentils and quinoa separately, for about 8 hours in twice as much water.  You can start them soaking before you go to work and they will be ready to cook when you return. Drain and rinse both separately in warm water.

Quinoa Directions:
Steam the quinoa in about 1 cup of water in a rice steamer for about 30 minutes. Alternately you can simmer it on the stove.

Lentil Directions:
In a sauce pot, add the lentils with 1 tsp of salt and about 2 cups of water, just enough to cover them. Bring them to a boil then turn down the heat to a
slow simmer. While these are cooking prepare your veggies. These will need to simmer about 30 minutes.

Combining Directions:
Saute the onion and garlic in a skillet until they are a bit caramelized, add peppers, squash and the tomatoes and saute until the veggies are just starting to get soft. Add the steamed quinoa and the lentils to the skillet, mix and add in the liquid aminos (soy sauce), hot sauce and salt to taste. Stir frequently and cook this about 10-15 minutes to allow the flavors to blend and any extra liquid is absorbed. Tear the basil into large pieces and mix in before serving. This serves 4-8.

You can use what ever veggies you like, zucchini would be great if you can't get summer squash. I love the bites of squash in this recipe! And despite having some pablano peppers and using a bit of hot sauce to season it, it is not a spicy dish. You could make it spicy if you like though!