Our little bat today was in the mood for some vodka, so we went ahead and invented a little recipe to splash some vodka in. Of course, the ingredients of choice included fruit, no surprises there, and some chicken. Today we went for quinoa for a number of reasons, first to vary and create a more colorful dish, second, it has a good amount of fiber which helps control sugars (and with all this dried fruit, we really need it!), it has more nutritional value (including a little protein which is hard to find in plants!), quinoa is also low in calories and carbs, and the little crunch it gives blends in nicely with the soft dried fruit! We will be also using cranberries today which are extremely famous against urine infections and apricots that are a good supply of Vitamin A and Vitamin C. So let’s see how does this recipe go!
Ingredients
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Cloves
- Coriander
- Caraway Seeds
- Aniseeds
- Smoked Paprika
- Ginger
- Thyme
- Chilli (optional)
- Dried Apricots
- Cranberries
- Chicken (optional)
- Vodka
- Milk
- Pine Nuts (optional)
- Salt
- Pepper
Method
In a pan start heating our spices, that is the cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, coriander, caraway seeds, and aniseed. Chop the dried apricots and once the pan is nice and heated and the spices are letting a sweet fragrance in your kitchen toss the apricots and cranberries in (if you can get your hands on fresh apricots and cranberries I would recommend using those and then add a little honey once they are nice and soft). Mix well in the spices for a few minutes, add the vodka and a dash of thyme, and blend away till the vodka almost evaporates.
In the meantime prepare your quinoa. I usually get the one that is ready to eat, however, I like to cover it up with water and heat for a couple of minutes in the microwave. This will soften and puff the quinoa lightly as well and warm it up to mix better with the flavors we will be about to toss in.
Blend the quinoa and the fruit together and mix well. In the same pan we cooked the fruit now toss the chicken (I used boneless thighs, however, any chicken part will do. Choice your favorite cut and cut it in your favorite method, I prefer shredded, however, I simply cut mine in bite sizes this time, it still worked). Add the thyme, ginger, a little smoked paprika, and if you enjoy the heat, add a little chili (or a lot, depending on how hot you like your food), and salt and pepper to taste. Grill the chicken to a nice golden brown, then add some milk and let it simmer until the milk is almost absorbed.
Mix the chicken and some roasted pine nuts to the rest of the mixture and you’re ready to go. I like to let this recipe rest in the fridge for a day or two, to be honest, the flavors blend better, so this is perfect as a takeaway lunch! Just make sure you keep the chicken in a cold place until you eat it (I usually heat it well in a microwave to be safe just before I consume it).
Variations
This is another great option to serve as a no meat dish. Simply remove the chicken and add more nuts and the recipe is just as good! You can remove the nuts if you have any nut allergies or do not enjoy them, or switch the nuts to almonds or walnuts, they both will complement the flavors nicely! It would also be great with a mix of nuts instead of chicken to keep it interesting if you’re going for a vegetarian option. It can be served as a side or as a healthy snack on the seaside without the chicken, it tastes amazing cold! And as I said before, you can serve it with or without chili, according to your liking! Hope you found this recipe interesting, we will always enjoy any feedback from your side, so do let us know what you think!