Sran Style Stir Fry

In terms of cooking, I owe a lot to my roommate Venice's mother.  As she sent her baby daughter off to study in the big city she entrusted her with a book half written in Punjabi and half in English with different colored lentils taped inside, cautionary notes on things like to always add the Garam Marsala last..that is just before you throw tomatoes in and her father's email address...  Little did she know that I would study her notes and recipes and practice them throughout my entire fourth year of University.  I would never call myself an expert--But I have become quite comfortable using a specific combination of spices: Turmeric, Coriander, Cumin Seeds, Salt, Garam Marsala and of course Tharka.  Tharka being the combo of sauteed onions, ginger, garlic and Cumin seeds (yum!).  Her recipes introduced me to Indian Lentils/Dhal and taught me that there is an important difference between the colors, and that the mixture of half yellow and half orange is superior.

Anyway Tonight I wasn't sure what to make for dinner...I had just picked up some exciting local veggies that I was pumped to use!  At Dufferin Grove I picked up some Green House Spinnach grown right outside the city and from Metro the other day I got these snow peas that are grown right downtown by "Super Three Produce" (and a bag of them was only 99 cents!).  In order to put all the things i wanted together I settled on a Stir Fry "Sran Style".

I gathered my ingredients
1/4 cup of quinoa (I used Red Quinoa for the first time! mostly for the color...)
1 Carrot (grown in Ontario)
1/4 white onion (grown whooo knowss where?)
a handful of snow peas
2 handfuls of spinach
2 garlic cloves-
1 small piece of ginger-
1 egg (totally optional, i just have a lot of eggs right now..)
1 handful of fresh coriander (also optional, Ive just been really into buying bunches of it and therefore throwing it into everything so i can use it all up)
and of course: turmeric, coriander, salt and cumin seeds

Stove Top

1. Add the 1/4 cup of Quinoa with 1/2 cup of water.  Right away add 1/2 tsp of turmeric and coriander along with 1/2 tsp of salt (or less salt if you desire).  Allow to reach a boil and then cover and simmer.  Quinoa cooks pretty fast maybe 5-10 minutes..if its a new kind of grain for you then keep an eye on it!

Stir Fry

1. Add the Onion, tsp of cumin seeds and garlic.  Allow to mix together and then when the onions become tender throw in the ginger.
2. Next add the rest of the veggies--the snow peas (cut into 1/3s), spinach (chopped a bit) and carrot (grated).
3. allow to all become friends and add some more of the spices--another 1/2 tsp of turmeric, coriander and salt
4. When the Quinoa is cooked throw it into the mix.




5. Optional: Stir together and make a hole in the middle of the veggie pile and crack an egg in.  Mix the egg into the veggies, twisting and turning it all around so that its got a little egg all over the place. 

6. Turn off heat and EAT






Just as I sat down to eat in walks my inspiration/roommate.