These healthy and delicious savoury muffins are from Amy Chaplin’s book, ‘At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen’. The mashed sweet potato in the muffin mix adds a pleasantly moist and sweet background to the onions, herbs and delicate crunch of black quinoa.
Ingredients
Black quinoa
- 1/4 cup(40g) black quinoa, washed
- 1 cup(240ml) filtered water
- 1/4 cup(60ml) filtered water, extra
- pinch sea salt
Muffins
- 2 tbspground flax seeds
- 1/4 cup(60ml) plain soya milk or plain nut milk
- 1/4 cup(60ml) extra virgin olive oil, plus 1 tbsp extra
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 tbspchopped sage leaves
- 2 tspchopped thyme, plus thyme sprigs to garnish
- 1 tspsea salt
- 1 1/2 cups(150g) sprouted spelt flour or sprouted wholewheat flour
- 1 tbspaluminium-free baking powder
- 1 tspbicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1 cup(200g) mashed sweet potato
- 3/4 cup(180ml) filtered water
- 2 tspunpasteurized apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsptamari
Steps
Herbed black quinoa muffins
- Soak quinoa in 1 cup of filtered water for 12-24 hours.
- Drain and rinse quinoa. Place in a small pan, add extra water and salt; bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover pan and simmer for 15 minutes, or until all water is absorbed.
- Remove from heat and allow to sit, covered, for 10 minutes; fluff with a fork. Measure out 1/2 cup and set aside. Save remaining couple of tablespoons of quinoa to sprinkle over muffins.
- Preheat oven to 180ºC/gas 4. Line a muffin tin with 10 muffin cases.
- Place flax seeds and soya milk in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside to thicken while you cook the onion.
- Warm 1 tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Add sage, thyme and 1/2 teaspoon salt; reduce heat to low and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or until caramelized. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Sift flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into another medium bowl. Stir to combine and set aside.
- Add sweet potato, water, vinegar, tamari and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt to the flax-soya milk mixture and whisk until smooth. Add remaining 1/4 olive oil; whisk again and add flour mixture. Use a rubber spatula to stir mixture gently until almost combined, then fold in cooked quinoa and onions.
- Divide mix between muffin cases, filling them all the way to the top. Garnish each muffin with a thyme sprig and a sprinkle of remaining cooked quinoa.
- Bake 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven; leave muffins in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.