Sunday, March 13, 2011

Quinoa Salad

Quinoa has become one of my favorite grains. It’s packed full of protein and once I got the hang of cooking it, I started to substitute it for rice and pasta in most of my cooking. This salad is easy to pack which makes it great for lunch at your desk (not that I advocate eating at your desk, but sometimes you do what you gotta do). And its super easy to make (now that I’ve figured it out, I’ll let you in on my secret)

Measure and rinse the quinoa. Rinsing the raw quinoa is important to take off the bitter resin-like coating (really important because otherwise it cooks up all glutinous and tastes pretty bad). Rinse it in a strainer with the finest grill you have. Quinoa is tiny so you can easily lose it down the drain if the holes in the strainer are too big.

Cook the quinoa in either a rice cooker or on the stove. I use a ratio of 1 cup grain: 1 ¼ cup water which I find is perfect. Cook until tender – about 15 minutes is all it takes. Put the quinoa into a large bowl and let it cool.



Prepare your veggies

Add them to the cooled quinoa along with the oregano and pine nuts (mmm, I think the pine nuts are the secret ingredient for this salad). Grind lots of pepper over the salad.

Put the oil, cider vinegar and lemon juice in the magic bullet and give it a whirl. Add it to the salad.


Mix it all up and then portion out some for lunch tomorrow before it all disappears. The flavours are really subtle but don’t be fooled. This salad packs a punch of good nutrition.

Quinoa Salad

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 ¼ cups water
½ cup grated carrot
¼ cup thinly sliced green onion
1 ½ tsp oregano
¼ cup pine nuts
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp lemon juice
Lots of freshly ground pepper

Put quinoa and water in rice cooker or medium sized pot. Cook until tender (about 15 minutes). Put cooked quinoa in large bowl and let cool. Add the carrots, onions, oregano, pine nuts and pepper. Mix oil, vinegar and lemon juice together and pour over salad. Mix it all together. Will keep in fridge for 2 or 3 days.



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