Context: I usually don’t follow a recipe and just make things ad hoc with a generic set of (usually shelf-stable) ingredients I keep. I just mixed together the following:
- Quinoa
- Vegetable broth
- A Mediterranean seasoning mix I combined myself from like 20 herbs and spices
- A light drizzle of olive oil
- A handful of grape leaves
- About a spoonful of pomegranate molasses (never saw this ingredient before but found it on a good sale; shockingly versatile)
- About a spoonful of mango/peach jam (don’t ask; I choose minor ingredients like a pregnant person)
It tastes good, but it’s very homogenous flavor-wise, texture-wise, and nutrient-wise. Mainly I’m thinking of solid ingredients. Avocado? I had none on hand, but maybe next time. If I liked olives more, they’d go well with the grape leaves and Mediterranean spices to make it sort of Greek. I have a tomato, but I didn’t add it; maybe I was wrong? Vegan feta exists, but I didn’t like feta when I ate animal products. I bet falafel would work nicely, but I have no way to make them. The sweet ingredients already in the recipe don’t make the dish taste “sweet”; they just add a bit of background flavor, and I don’t want anything too sweet in it after those (except a squeeze of citrus juice which I didn’t have on hand). I think white wine would be good, but I never drink, so a lot goes to waste if I use it for cooking. Lastly, I’m thinking I want the dish to be hot instead of chilled, but that’s probably a stupid idea.
TL;DR: Having writer’s block in finishing a potentially decent recipe; I feel like I want to go in a Greek direction, but I have little experience with making Greek food.
You got any bell peppers on hand?
I do think the tomatoes could work, too. Maybe kind of caprese-style as a side, so with balsamico vinegar and tofu. If that vegan feta isn’t too strong, it could also work instead of the tofu.
I could also imagine going all-in on veggies, so bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, maybe some salad, all mixed together with a bit of vinegar and maybe caraway, and then you can losely mix that into the quinoa. Some chickpeas or beans would also work with that, in terms of protein.
!!! Bell peppers are the thing I knew was there but couldn’t think of! I thought about chickpeas but didn’t know how I felt texture-wise, but as long as there’s a bunch of stuff in there like you suggest, I bet it’d work really well.
