true love for herbies

my love affair with herbies herbs begun a few years back while I was living and studying in Sydney. I would frequent the store of an afternoon between uni and yoga - yes, the store is physically situated between the two. (Isn't Balmain Rd/ Darling St Rozelle a real gem of a spot)

image via scandifoodie 

At first is was cinnamon. My obsession with this spice, which only gets stronger by the day, began here with the most fragrant and warming cinnamon i could find. It was all about the health benefits at first - cinnamon is a natural blood sugar regulator, anti-inflammatory and great for digestion. However it quickly grew into a 'cant have breakfast without it' addition. 
- cinnamon and honey on toast
- cinnamon with natural yoghurt
- cinnamon on my muesli
- cinnamon in my tea
- cinnamon in banana bread .... You get the point yeah?

My herbies addiction then escalated to buying cardamom pods and cloves to make my own chai tea and many attempts to learn how to use turmeric in my cooking that resulted in staining all my cooking utensils and appliances in the process. 

Now I have what I call a healthily obsessed and tastefully spicy relationship with herbies. I ONLY use their herbs and spices! And when you try them, if you haven't already you will ONLY use them too! Not to mention how amazed you will be when you walk into their store and realise that that many spices actually exist in the world. 

Which brings me to last nights dinner. Now as most of you would know I come from a Macedonian background so cooking with spices pretty much depends on PAPRIKA!! Smoked, sweet, hot, anykind. and yes, i love the stuff. but it isn't very useful when you have asian cuisine on your mind. This is were the amazing herbies Chinese Stir-fry blend comes into it. Inspired by the tasty quinoa san choy bow i experieced at the cute and quirky vegan eat-house Nourishing Quarter in Sydney, I made my version of spicy stir-fry veg quinoa>>>>here is the recipe

ingredients.


cooked quinoa -i soak mine for a few hours first and then cook
garlic
fresh ginger
red and green hot chilli's
herbies chinese stir-fry spice
carrot
celery
peas
sesame oil
mirin
soy sauce - gluten free
oyester sauce

what to do. 

stir-fry onion, chilli, ginger and garlic in sesame oil. add the veggies and continue to fry. then add approx 2 teaspoons of chinese stir fry spice. combine until fragrant and then add quinoa, soy, mirin and oyester sauce. add a little extra sesame if needed. stir-fry until well combined and flavoursome!