Leftover Christmas Ham? Pork Quinoa!

It’s December 3rd and I can’t help but wonder how many of you out there are already starting to panic about your Christmas Day leftovers? Instead of silently cursing those family members who DID NOT take their share of the Holiday meal let me show you a delicious way to make said family members come back to your house begging for your recipe!

Pork Fried Rice is my absolute favorite form of take out Chinese food… I will literally eat a carton fit to feed twenty and eat the whole thing by myself. I eat for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner; I literally just eat until it’s gone!

I also love protein; years of playing sports has made me have this innate desire to always add protein into any meal that I can. Thus we have Pork Fried Quinoa!

I got the initial recipe for this from AllRecipe.com (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pork-fried-quinoa/) and just made a few subtractions and additions.

Ingredients

• 1 c. quinoa
• 1.5 c. cold water
• salt to taste
• 1 T. Vegetable oil
• 1 c. cubed Christmas day ham
• 1/2 c. sliced red pepper
• 1/2 c. chopped green onion; separated white and dark parts
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or 1 t. garlic powder
• 1T red or rice wine vinegar
• 1T soy sauce
• 1t. siracha chile-garlic sauce
• 2 eggs beat

1. Rinse quinoa very well; about one minute in cold water and then make sure that it is drained well.
2. place in a saucepan and cover with the water and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce to low, simmer covered, until tender which will be about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 more minutes.
3. While the quinoa is cooking heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Cook the ham, pepper, and whites of the green onion until brown (about 5 minutes). Add garlic powder.
4. Stir in the qunoa and cook for about 2-3 more minutes on medium heat.
5. Add vinegar, soy sauce, chile-garlic sauce. Optional: you can add about 1t of sesame seeds; I didn’t have any on hand and couldn’t condone buying a large bag of it on my college budget.
6. Make an open well in the center of the quinoa in the skillet. Drizzle the egg into the well onto the hot frying pan using a fork. Mix into quinoa once all the egg is fried.
7. Garnish with green onion slices before serving.

The siracha chile-garlic sauce really adds a lot of heat. Nobody else besides me likes food with some heat so it wasn’t a huge hit with my mild flavored family and friends. If this is the case for you, omit the siracha and it will still be just as good. Maybe just put some paprika in the mix instead!

I served this with freezer pot stickers and buttermilk fried chicken bites with a spicy, Asian-infused honey dip. If you want the recipe for that just put a note in the comment and I will get that too you!

Total Price: Roughly $1.78/serving

About 8 servings.

“A Little Bit of Quinoa Goes A Long Way!”