Tasty, nutritious side dishes add color and variety to a meal. This quinoa dish has subtle flavor from pistachios and blackstrap molasses.

Makes 7-ish cups

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups white quinoa, rinsed

3 cups water

1 Tbsp Tamari sauce

1/4 – 1/3 cup pistachios

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3 Tbsp cold-pressed vegetable oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 tsp cumin seeds (not ground)

1 1/2 tsp blackstrap molasses

6 packed cups spinach, coarsely chopped

3 large chard leaves–stalks cut away from the leaves. Stalks diced. Leaves coarsely chopped (Keep the stalks and leaves separate)

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp coarse salt

1/8  tsp pepper (I used white pepper)

Steps

1. Make the quinoa: put the quinoa, water, and Tamari sauce in a small pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. When the water boils, lower the heat and cover the pot. Cook for 18 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the pistachios to the pot, but don’t mix them in. Cover the pot and keep it covered until the leaves have been cooked.
2. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat and saute the chopped onion until soft.
3. Add the cumin seeds and blackstrap molasses and stir fairly constantly for 3 minutes.
4. Add the chopped chard stems and stir fairly constantly for 3 minutes.
5. Add the chopped spinach and chard leaves and stir until they have wilted.
6. Add the paprika, salt, and pepper. Mix well, then remove the pot from the heat.
7. Stir in the cooked quinoa.

Notes

• You can add up to 3 cups more spinach or chard without it affecting the flavor of the dish.
• If you don’t have cumin seeds, you can use ground cumin but add it in step 4 with the chard stems.