Our month-long celebration of quinoa continues with this fabulous and healthy salad from Susan O’Brien’s wonderful cookbook, The Gluten-Free Vegan.
I hope these different ways of preparing quinoa have given you some ideas of variations and ways you can adapt it to suit the season and your individual tastes. This particular recipe would be wonderful served with sliced avocados and/or fresh corn. For those who are not vegan, crumbling some feta cheese onto it, or adding grilled shrimp would also be delicious! Enjoy.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of vegetable stock/broth
1 cup of quinoa — remember to rinse well and drain before cooking
1 yellow, orange or red bell pepper, diced into 1/4″ pieces
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 small red onion (or 2-3 scallions, if you prefer) finely diced
2 Roma (Italian) tomatoes, seeded, chopped and drained
1, 15 ounce can of beans — black beans, pinto beans, red kidney beans, or a mixture of whatever beans you like. Of course, you can also cook your own from dried. You will want about 1 1/2 cups
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup freshly made salsa (you can make your own or use store-bought from the produce section)
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 lime, juiced
Freshly ground pepper and sea salt
Instructions:
1. Cook the rinsed quinoa — bring your stock to a boil, add the quinoa, lower heat and cook until the liquid is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. Place cooled quinoa in a large bowl and add your chopped vegetables (bell pepper, jalapeno, onion, tomatoes), beans, and salsa. Toss to blend.
3. Add ground cumin, cilantro, canola oil, and lime juice.
4. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
