Recipe Challenge: Quinoa With Ground Turkey – Arroz Tapado

This recipe has been adapted from the original “arroz tapado,” a Peruvian recipe made with rice and beef. This is a healthier version (with quinoa and turkey) and it is as delicious as the original. It’s also very easy to cook, it won’t take you too long, and you can have all the ingredients cooked beforehand. It’s also versatile—you can add more veggies into the ground turkey mix if you want to.

Hope you enjoy it!

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 cups of cooked quinoa
3-4 cups of water
1 lb ground turkey (such as 93% lean or 99% lean)
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1 tsp garlic, minced
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 hard boiled eggs, cut up in small squares
1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cooking the quinoa:

In a pot, mix the quinoa with water, bring to a boil and once it boils reduce the temperature to low heat, cover and leave to simmer for approximately 20-25 minutes. Check from time to time to make sure it doesn’t need more water; if so, add hot boiling water to not disrupt the cooking process. Fluff with a fork and it should be ready to serve.

Cooking the meat:

In a frying pan cook the onion until translucent, then add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the ground turkey, salt and pepper and brown the meat for about 10 minutes. Then add the tomatoes, mix, cover and cook for 10 more minutes, or until thoroughly cooked. Finally, add the cut up hard boiled eggs and parsley, mix well, taste and add some salt if needed.

Stacking it up:

Scoop in a thin layer of quinoa (¼ cup) in a small cereal bowl. Pressing it down to make it firm. Then add ¼ of the meat sauce as the middle layer, and finally top with another layer of quinoa (¼ cup). Remember that the first layer of quinoa will be the top layer once it is placed on the dish. Flip the bowl and gently place the contents to avoid splitting it apart. To garnish, you can use more chopped parsley.