Saturday, July 16, 2011

Quinoa Tabouleh


Because it is July and so hot out, I am really into making salads lately. The less I have to use the stove or oven, the better. This salad is so good, and quinoa cooks very quickly. I usually cook it at night, before I go to bed, and throw it all together. It tastes better the next day anyhow.

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 cups of water
a pinch of salt
a bunch or two of scallions, sliced
about 1/2 cup of red, orange, or yellow pepper, chopped
a large tomato, chopped
a cup of chopped parsley
a couple cloves of garlic, minced
a cucumber, chopped
about 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons lemon juice
ground pepper to taste

Quinoa has a bitter tasting coating on it, called saponin. You need to rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh strainer first to get rid of it. Then bring quinoa and water to a boil, reduce heat to a low simmer to finish cooking. It doesn't take long, about 15 minutes or less. Keep a cover on the pan while it simmers. When all water is absorbed it's done. Let cool.

Then add everything else. It is best to let it chill in the fridge for a few hours before serving. It is cool and refreshing and really healthy.

2 comments:

  1. This recipe sounded sooooo good that I spent most of yesterday morning making it up. We had everything but the scallions on hand, so I chopped up all the other veggies, put the salad together, left it in the fridge all afternoon. We stopped at Trader Joe's after the gym, got the scallions (and, of course, some other things we needed) added them in to everything else and had it with some felafel from Felafel King (a great Boulder, CO establishment, some of whose products are available in Whole Foods here in town). It made a delicious supper, and the cool thing is - there's a ton of it left for further enjoyment!! Thanks so much for this recipe, Jess, it's a keeper.

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  2. I'm so glad you liked it! I'm going to make a batch this week using the cukes from our own garden!!!

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