Quinoa Curry Chowder is a perfect one-pot complete meal that you will love making over and over again. I added spices like turmeric and sumac to this chowder. If you think quinoa is boring, try this!
One fine evening my husband brought home ground sumac. I’ve never heard of it before then. I opened it up and have a quick taste and it tasted sour. I asked hubby why he got it and he said because it’s unique (I guess that’s why we are husband and wife!). I started googling and read about what to do with it. Apparently, this spice is pretty commonly used in Meditteranean food. It can pretty much be used in everything from soup, meat, seafood, some even sprinkle it on popcorns.
I was a bit hesitant about using it in this quinoa curry chowder to be honest, but I thought, what did I have to lose right? if I really screwed it up, well then, I just wouldn’t use it anymore!
Recipe inspiration is from Quinoa Corn Chowder from Food Network’s Magazine
Quinoa Curry Chowder
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp coconut oil
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic grated
- 3 fresh bay leaves
- ½ cup quinoa
- 2 cups frozen whole-kernel corn thawed
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 2 lbs baby Yukon Gold potatoes quartered
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp good-quality curry powder
- 1 lb large shrimp peeled and deveined
- 2 Roma tomatoes seeded and diced
- ½ cup coconut milk
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp ground sumac optional
- 4 stalks scallions finely chopped
Instructions
- In a large pot, melt the coconut oil (if it's in solid state). Add in onion,garlic and bay leaves. Saute until they are fragrant and tender, about 5 minutes. Add in the quinoa and corn and saute for about 3 minutes. Pour in the stock, potatoes, turmeric, curry powder. Bring it to a boil and then lower the heat to let it simmer until the potatoes and quinoa are cooked through, about 30 minutes
- Add the shrimp and diced tomatoes into the chowder and cook until they start to turn pink, about 1 minute. Pour in the coconut cream and let it cook for another 2 minutes. Have a taste and season with some salt to your taste if needed
- Garnish with some chopped scallions and small pinch of sumac powder just before serving
I guess I didn’t screw up though ha..ha..! I love this quinoa curry chowder on its own. It’s creamy with some Southeast Asian flavor in there. The sumac and its tangy profile sprinkled on top complement the dish well IMHO. Perhaps I’m used to the complex taste profile of Southeast Asian food (which usually includes sourness!). I have rubbed sumac on meat since then and no longer a sumac virgin! 🙂
6 comments
Woops…forgot….your pictures/photography is absolutely Beautiful! And your recipes are fantastic..thanks so
much for sharing!!!! 🙂
Chris
Thank you so much for your kind words Chris 🙂 So glad you stopped by and for leaving me comments! Made my day!
I have a question? I do not know about anywhere else, but here in the Seattle WA. area, fresh Turmeric
root is available everywhere in regular grocery Stores. It has such wonderful flavor and the powdered form,
all it does is provide color, no flavor??? (I know that one has to wear gloves to peel and handle it or your
hands will be yellow-orange “forever!”) How come I’ve never seen any recipe calling for it’s use?
Chris
Hi Chris, fresh turmeric root is available in some selected non-Asian grocery stores too. I have to agree that the fresh form definitely is so much better. I think I included mostly turmeric powder in my recipe for convenience reason. The majority do not want to deal with fresh turmeric 🙂 Like you said, it stains EVERYTHING! even my poor countertop LOL! but if you have fresh turmeric, by all means, use that. I think it’s so much better too 🙂
Wow! This looks so comforting! Never heard of sumac before. I wonder what kind of flavour it has. Curious.
Hi Wei, it is actually sour 🙂 But not too sour!!