One Pot Amaranth Stew
Amaranth sounds like a fancy ingredient that is hard to find but it’s usually hidden somewhere at a local “health foods” grocery store. It’s a type of healthy grain with a really soft a subtle flavor that reminds me a bit of quinoa. When I was going back through the random recipes I had originally added to this site I decided to keep this one because it was sincerely one of my favorite meals I made over the last two years. It’s really easy to make even if the thought of some weird ancient grain sounds intimidating, I promise you there’s nothing to be worried about. This recipe is also made up of things that most of us have laying about the house, or at least I usually have this laying about so it’s easy to whip up. Bonus, it travels well and heats up easy peasy!
Ingredients
1 cup amaranth
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, cored and diced
2 bell peppers, cored and diced
3 cups vegetable broth
1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed fire roasted tomatoes
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne (depending on how hot you like it)
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
juice of 1 lime
2 avocados
Directions
Warm the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and jalapeño and cook for 5 minutes then add the bell pepper and the seasonings (cumin, chili powder and cayenne) and stir together.
Pour in the vegetable broth and the tomatoes with their juices and then bring to a low boil. Allow to cook for 15 minutes so that it thickens slightly.
Add the soaked and rinsed amaranth (or quinoa) and continue to cook for another 20 minutes.
Next add the black beans, chopped cilantro and the juice of 1 lime and stir together. Cook until everything is heated throughout and then serve warm. Garnish with avocado and chopped cilantro and enjoy!
As a side note when I made this I was soooooo tired and I accidentally dumped almost everything in immediately. I also didn’t soak the amaranth but I did rinse it. The meal still came out great. My goal is to find you things that even if you muck up you’ll still feel like you’re a winner. Life is too short to labor over some floozy of a recipe that you gotta get just right or it’s ruined.
Hot TIP: Sub quinoa instead of amaranth and reduce the liquid to 2 cups. The quinoa will soak up all the liquid but you can just add some more broth until you get the consistency you like. When you lower the water you’ll almost get a Mexican “bowl” and it’s fucking delicious. Quinoa is delicious. If you don’t like it it’s because you have only had it cold in a kale salad and even I refuse to eat that shit. It literally tastes like sadness. Reacquaint yourself with quinoa.
I topped my stew with homemade cashew creme fraiche. I’ll add that recipe soon I promise. But in the meantime you can add a dollop of sour cream and eat with some tortilla chips and you’ll be in heaven.