Original Recipe: Quinoa Verde

lumpialady11
Jan 31
4 min read

I eagerly share my first original recipe due to its popularity amongst family and friends. I invented this Peruvian-inspired dish in the last few months, and now it is a favorite. Perfect for the cold weather we're experiencing, my Quinoa Verde soup is sure to warm you up and make both your belly and heart happy.

Beef. Broth. Healthy ingredients.

Keep in mind, while the ingredient list looks long, this doesn't require any fancy cooking techniques or methods. It's simply chopping and blending some ingredients and adding it all into one large pot. It's a soup. If you'd like to try it out, feel free to add, change, or replace ingredients such as using different vegetables, adding squash, or using chicken instead of beef. When I invented it, I literally just improvised and added things together that I had, and almost mimicked my Arroz Con Pollo Peruano and Sancocho recipes. As you know, I measure with feeling most of the time, but I did my best to come up with some measurements!

Quinoa Verde

Estimated prep time: 20 min. Estimated cook time: 60 minutes Total time: 1 hr. 20 min. Difficulty: Moderate (a bit of prep, a few unique ingredients, and long ingredient list)

Ingredients

About 1.5-2 lbs of Chuck steak, OR chuck roast, sliced into bite-sized pieces and fat trimmed. OR similar cut of beef
1 medium red onion, diced
6 large cloves of garlic, minced
Aji amarillo paste (use about 1.5 Tbsp for mild spice and flavor, or more for more spice)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 tsp cumin powder
1 small Sazón package
1-2 cups of Edmundo golden cooking wine, or other white cooking wine
1 bunch of cilantro
1 bag of spinach
1-2 cartons of beef broth (32 oz cartons)
1-2 cup of quinoa
About 5 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 bell pepper, any color, sliced into bite-sized pieces
About 1/3 cup of frozen peas and carrots
About 1/3 cup of frozen Peruvian corn

Directions

Prep meat: Slice beef against the grain and cut into bite-sized pieces. Be sure to trim fat if needed/desired. Season however you want. I use the green Goya seasoning (Goya Sazonador Total) and a little bit of Goya Adobo seasoning.
Prep vegetables: Dice red onion, mince garlic, peel and cube potatoes, slice bell pepper (I like to use Yukon gold potatoes and red bell pepper, but whatever you have/want works!)
Prep cilantro spinach paste: You can do this step either as the meat is browning or while the cooking wine (later step) is reducing in order to utilize time efficiently. But since I am listing all the prep steps first... Simply add your washed cilantro and spinach into a blender or large food processor with some water. That's it! Blend until you make a nice green paste.
Add some avocado oil (or other oil of your choice) into a large pot over medium-high heat. Once hot, add in seasoned beef and brown. Allow the meat to stay on one side for several minutes before stirring to achieve some nice color. Stir occasionally. Once satisfied, remove beef and place it aside in a glass bowl.
Next, sauté your onion and garlic with avocado oil (or other oil of your choice) in the large pot over medium heat. I sauté for about 3 or 4 minutes or until I like the color and fragrance.
Add in your aji amarillo paste (the more you add, the more spicy it can be, but about 1 to 1.5 Tbsp should provide mild spice and flavor). Add in some spices: a little dash of salt and pepper, cumin, and 1 package of Sazón. Stir and cook for about another 2 minutes or so allowing the family of flavors to bond together :) Make sure the heat isn't too high or too low. Medium heat should be fine.
Add 1-2 cups of cooking wine and let it reduce (once almost all the liquid evaporates, it's time to move to the next step).
Add the beef back in the pot.
Add cilantro spinach paste in the pot.
Add in beef broth. Add some water. Tip: Pour some beef broth or water into your blender or food processor first to get out all the green paste! I pour some in my food processor then pour that mixture into the pot to get most of that precious, magical green goodness! Note: You will only use about 1 carton of broth if only cooking about 1 cup of quinoa, or 2 cartons for 1.5-2 cups of quinoa. I also fill the empty carton with water after I pour in the broth and add that to the pot as well (or add about 3-4 cups of water). You want to make sure that you will have some extra liquid for the soup as the quinoa will absorb a lot of broth as it cooks.
Bring pot to a boil (high heat). Once boiling, add in potatoes and quinoa. Reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for about 35-40 minutes. Check and stir occasionally. Note: Rinse quinoa if needed. I use the Costco brand that is prewashed (keep in mind you will adjust how much broth and quinoa you use. I like to use 2 cartons of beef broth and about 1.5 cups of pre-washed quinoa)
During the last few minutes of cook time, add in bell pepper, frozen peas, carrots, corn. Cook for about another 5 minutes.
Turn off heat and enjoy!

Serve in a large bowl and add a squeeze of lime. Enjoy with a glass of fresh chicha morada if you're feeling like an honorary Peruvian like me ;)

Note: In the above photo, I used butternut squash and made the potatoes a little chunkier. I also used fresh carrots because that's what we had at the time.

Let me know if you try this recipe and any additions of your own!

Products used:

Aji Amarillo Paste