I love quinoa. It’s versatile, easy, relatively cheap and you can make it fit with almost any meal (if not every meal).

So when cooking savory sweet pork chops, I figured what could go better than quinoa?

I almost always cook my quinoa in stock so I don’t have to salt it (except when I’m making it as a salad where I’ll dress it separately). I find when I cook it in stock it takes on a fluffier texture which my family and I really enjoy, so, this time, I didn’t alter my norm.

I wanted my quinoa to also be savory and sweet and to pick up some of the undertones from the spicy rhubarb sauce I made for the pork. I had some frozen blueberries and a load of ginger. That did it!

This is what you’ll need;

2 cups of chicken (or other type) stock

1 cup quinoa

1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries ( had frozen fresh ones last month to save for later 🙂 )

1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced

scallions, chopped to serve as garnish

Dump your stock and quinoa in a pot and give it a stir. Let mixture come to a boil on medium-high heat and then reduce to low, partially covering so as not to let the water boil over. (But you want the water to evaporate…mostly)

Once your quinoa is cooked through (give it a taste, it should be soft, but with a slight crisp pop (I’m not describing that very well – you can always follow the directions on the box).

Stir in your blueberries and ginger. I wanted the spiciness of fresh ginger. If you don’t want that much of a bite, you can saute your ginger to soften before you add it to your quinoa.

Stir, serve as a side and garnish with scallions.

This was a fantastically easy side dish, everyone LOVED it.