Quinoa Salad

Quinoa has become a favorite dish in my kitchen. Three years ago, I was looking for an alternative to rice that we eat quite frequently. Then I happened to eat a sample of Quinoa  at the Whole Foods grocery store. I loved it.

If you cook it in a pressure cooker, it resembles the split rice Nepali dish, puwa, which I am fond of too.

Quinoa has health benefits. It is a complete protein-source high in magnesium, iron, folate, zinc and fiber. You can fully satiate your appetite with Quinoa Salad without having a guilt that you are consuming too much carbs. More health benefits of quinoa can be found here.

I usually cook quinoa in a rice cooker. I rinse and soak it for an hour and add 1 cup of water to a cup of quinoa (if you don’t soak, add two cups of water to a cup of quinoa). I also add a spoon of butter, pinch of salt and turmeric just to enhance the flavor which is totally optional. When the quinoa is half cooked, I take the lid off the rice cooker and let it cook uncovered. This way it is fluffy, not mushy.

Today I am sharing Quinoa Salad recipe I made last weekend.  For salad, options are unlimited. You can add vegetables of your choice (carrot, spinach, bell pepper, avocado, black beans etc), cheese (fresh mozzarella, feta), nuts (almonds, raisins, cranberry), and whatever(edible!) you like. 

Ingredients:

Quinoa: 2 cups (cooked and chilled)

Tomato:  1 medium size (inner portion removed and chopped finely)

Cucumber:  1 medium size (peeled and diced finely)

Lemon Juice:  2 table spoon

Mango: 1 medium size (diced finely)

Cilantro: chopped finely

Salt and pepper to taste (if you like you can use finely chopped green chili as well)

Lemon Zest (pinch of it, as it gives good flavor)

  

Method:

Add all the ingredients in a bowl, mix them well and its ready to serve. You can either chill it in refrigerator for a while or serve it at room temperature.

Enjoy!