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Mexican Instant Pot Quinoa

Smoky Instant Pot quinoa with corn and peas, drizzled with zesty cilantro-lime sauce.

Ingredients

• 1cup (250ml) fair-trade raw quinoa (any colour you like)
• 2tablespoon olive oil
• 1medium brown onion, finely diced
• 1pointy red pepper, diced
• 1celery stick, diced
• ½long red chili, finely diced (seeds out)
• 1+ 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3large cloves of garlic, finely diced
• 1teaspoon chipotle chili flakes
• 1teaspoon ground cumin
• 1teaspoon ground coriander seed
• 1teaspoon paprika or smoked paprika
• 1teaspoon dried oregano
• 1cup frozen corn kernels (250ml cup)
• ½cup frozen garden peas (250ml cup)
• ½cup tinned tomato puree/diced tomatoes/passata (NOT tomato paste! half of 250ml cup)
• ⅝cup water (150 ml)
• 2tbsp roughly diced cilantro leaves and stalks
• ½ clovegarlic, roughly diced
• 2tbsp mayonnaise
• 1tbsp lime juice
• 2small pickled jalapeño slices
• Pinch of salt
• Soak the quinoa in 2-3 cups of lightly salted cold water for 10-15 minutes (an hour is even better). Then rinse through a sieve.

Instructions

1. Press the Sauté key on the Instant Pot (it should say Normal, 30 mins). Add olive oil, onions, peppers, celery and half of the salt. Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring a few times.
2. After 5 minutes, add the garlic, spices and the rest of the salt. Stir through for 10 seconds and then add the quinoa, frozen corn and peas, tinned tomatoes and water. Stir through and press Keep Warm/Cancel key on the Instant Pot.
3. Place and lock the lid, making sure the steam releasing handle is pointing to Sealing. Press Manual, High pressure and set to 1 minute. After 3 beeps the pressure cooker will start going.
4. Once the timer goes off, allow the pressure to release for 7 minutes and then, if needed, use the quick release method before opening the lid.
5. While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the sauce by placing all of the ingredients in a food processor or a small blender. Process into a smooth sauce (it’s okay if some of the cilantro is not completely ground up). If no food processor available, use a knife to finely chop the cilantro and jalapeño, grate the garlic, then combine with the other ingredients in a bowl.
6. Serve the quinoa in bowls with a few teaspoons of cilantro sauce drizzled over the top. Garnish with extra lime and some chopped scallions.