I love “bowls”. In other words: dishes with a little bit of everything that when eaten together creates a tasty harmony. It is often served with rice or another grain. This time: quinoa.

I still get confused on how to pronounce quinoa, because this South American grain is not something I grew up with. But over the years I have learned how to prepare it properly and tasty.

Washing it well is the first step. If you don’t, the quinoa may have a somewhat bitter taste. In addition, I make sure to use half a vegetable stock when cooking the quinoa. It just brings out that extra flavour.

This dish is from the Everyday Vegan book (in Dutch) I got for my birthday. I have already made a number of dishes from the book, but this is one of my favourites. I did adjust the recipe slightly to make the steps easier to follow, make it suitable for two people, and to make the peanut sauce just a bit more liquid. And of course I added the stock cube to cooking the quinoa!

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Quinoa bowl with peanut sauce

5 minutes preparation + 25 minutes cooking — serves 2

• 1 large sweet potato
• 0.5 cucumber
• 100 grams of bean sprouts
• 100 grams of quinoa
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 0.5 teaspoon (smoked) paprika powder
• 0.5 teaspoon ground ginger
• 0.5 vegetable stock cube
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce (reduced salt)
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons of peanut butter
• Oil
• Pepper and salt

1. Preheat the oven / airfryer (see explanation above).
2. Wash the sweet potato and pat dry with a paper towel.
3. Cut the sweet potato into small pieces of c. 3 cm.
4. Mix the sweet potato with a tablespoon of olive oil and some salt and pepper. Mix well.
5. Roast the sweet potato on a baking tray or in the airfryer for 15-25 minutes (see explanation above step 1). Toss halfway through.
6. Bring a liter of water to a boil.

7. Wash the quinoa under cold water.
8. Dissolve the stock cube in slightly more than half of the pre-boiled water.
9. Cook the quinoa in the stock water for 15 minutes. Drain and keep aside. Note that quinoa is very small so use a fine sieve to make sure the quinoa doesn’t wash away when you drain it.
10. Drain the black beans and rinse under cold water.
11. Heat some oil in a pan and once it’s heated, add the black beans, cumin powder, garlic powder, (smoked) paprika powder and some salt. Fry for c. 10 minutes in the pan on a medium heat.
12. Meanwhile, wash the cucumber and cut into small, bite-sized pieces.
13. Wash the bean sprouts under cold water. You can blanch the bean sprouts a little if you want, but I prefer them raw as it has a nice bite to it.

14. Mix the peanut butter, soy sauce, lemon juice, ground ginger and a tablespoon of olive oil to create a peanut sauce.
15. Slowly add some extra water (from the pre-boiled water from step 6) to the peanut sauce to make the sauce more liquid.
16. Divide the sweet potato, quinoa, cucumber, bean sprouts, and black beans over two plates. Serve with the peanut sauce.

Enjoy your meal!

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Leave a comment below if you made this recipe, and let me know what you think. Tips and feedback to improve the recipe are always welcome too!