This is adapted from the book Veganomicon by Isa Moskowitz and Terry Romero.  I’m not vegan (I think that’s obvious if you’ve ever seen my blog!) but I do like to try out new recipes and ideas.

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a South-American grain and has a high protein content.  It’s a nice alternative to cous-cous or rice.

I’m feeling a bit lazy so I won’t post the whole recipe on here.  However, you can find it here on Jenna’s blog.

I made a few additions to the recipe.  I didn’t have peanut oil so I just used canola and I didn’t have a red chilli so I used a spicy green one.  I also added in green and yellow capsicum, zucchini and cherry tomatoes.  And of course, I de-veganised the recipe by grilling some prawns to serve with it.  I sprinkled some of the fish spice-mix we picked up in Morocco on top of the prawns before I grilled them.

I highly recommend this recipe – it combines sweet, sour and hot in a similar way to thai food.  The quinoa adds interesting texture, the pineapple is moist and sweet and the cashews give it crunch.  Adding extra vegetables adds colour and depth to the dish and makes it a complete meal, even without the prawns.