Quinoa Paella- 3 varieties!!!

After my success with the quinoa risotto- I got to thinking........ Why not make quinoa paella?

So, I rummaged around my pantry seeing what I had and actually made a mish mash of paella styles (part fish, part meat, part veggie) and it was delicious!!!

Below is the 'master recipe' for which you can pimp any way you like. I have posted 3 different style of paella for inspiration.

Mother Recipe: Serves 4

2 cups quinoa
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 cups low sodium chicken/vegetable/fish stock (broth) you choose.
Pinch of saffron threads, dissolved into stock
1 large roasted red pepper- cut into strips
1 cup peas
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley (to garnish)
1 lemon, cut into quarters (to garnish)
Ground coarse black pepper

Approx cal count for mother recipe: 142 per portion

Method: Sautee the chopped onion & garlic in a little spray oil. Add the quinoa to the pan and then add the saffron infused stock. Stir in the tomato puree. Simmer for approx 12 minutes & add the peas. The quinoa grains should be cooked (You can tell this as the centre of the grain goes opaque & the outer 'husk' begins to break off). Add the roasted red pepper at the end so it doesnt break up.

Serve sprinkled with fresh herbs & lemon juice & one (or a combination) of the below:

Then use the above recipe and turn it into one of the following:

Chicken & Chorizo quinoa paella-
make with chicken/veg stock (broth) and add 2 chopped chicken breasts (1/2 breast pp) and 20 thin slices of chorizo sausage (5 slices pp)

will make recipe 307 cals per portion

King prawn (Shrimp) & Mussell/Clam quinoa paella:
Make with fish/veg stock & add 4 large prawns (shrimp) per person & either mussells or clams in their shell.

Will make recipe 235 cals per portion

Vegan/Vegetarian quinoa paella:
Add 1x roasted aubergine (Eggplant) & 2 x Courgette (zucchini) and artichoke pieces (I used canned, washed & drained, 2 halves pp) & kidney beans/ black beans or pinto beans- 1 cup.

will make recipe 255 calories per person.

I heartily reccomend you pimp your paella with coriander (Cilantro) or basil, chopped fresh chilli pepper (or dried chilli flakes), olives and any extra veggies you have or fancy!