Eating Down the Fridge, Day 3: Red Quinoa with Avocado, Nori and Ponzu

EDtF, Day 3.

I am tired.

Wednesdays are late nights for me, as I usually do not get home until 9:00. To be perfectly honest, tonight I was craving something simple, filling and comforting.

In keeping with the spirit of EDtF, I had all the ingredients on hand and it is a recipe I’ve wanted to share since I stumbled upon it.

The referenced article lives here, and I found it via the wonderful Tea, of Tea and Cookies.

This recipe is fast becoming my go-to comfort food, a wholesome heals-all-wounds dish, an umami festival in my mouth. I would feed this to someone experiencing loss as easily as I would someone bouncing off the rooftops with joy.

Thanks to this recipe, I discovered two ingredients that are now staples of mine: red quinoa and ponzu.

Nikki’s reaction to the ponzu pretty well sums it up:

“Ponzu? What’s that?”
[tips the bottle onto a finger and tastes a bit]
Her eyes light up. “Oooohmmm. Yum!”

(I was, in fact, able to find Eden Foods Ponzu. Rock on, Greenlife.)

Oh yes. It is THAT good.
Milder/less salty but more astringent than soy sauce, it has a citrusy overtone from the orange and yuzu.
Be forewarned: for a condiment it is kind of expensive.
A 6.75 ounce bottle was $6.59.
I need to look into what other foods I can sprinkle this magic concoction on.

Red Quinoa with Nori and Avocado

Ingredients

½ cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed (I LOVE the red variety)
one sheet nori, cut into small strips (I wave mine briefly over my gas burner to toast it)
1 avocado (halved, sliced and sprinkled with lemon and salt)
Ponzu sauce to taste (around 2 T, but you may desire less)
1 tsp. sesame oil (or less – I use a toasted sesame oil that’s pretty concentrated)
Sriracha to taste (bring on the heat!)

Directions

Cook the quinoa in 1 cup water (2:1 ratio if you use more than ½ cup quinoa)

Put the nori strips in the bottom of a deep bowl and pour the cooked quinoa on top.

Add ponzu, sesame oil and sriracha and stir well to combine the sauces and nori with the quinoa.

Top with avocado and sprinkle a bit more ponzu on top of the avocado for good measure.

Verdict: Seriously, you will love this.

See Monday's entry for the updated list of food being used up from my fridge.