Quinoa Salad

I can’t believe that I am actually writing a recipe for Quinoa Salad. I have never had a reputation as a health-food-freak, and quinoa was never on my list of favorite foods.
Actually, to be fair, two years ago, I did have a lovely quinoa salad in New York, which I tried to imitate (more or less) when I got back home, but after the first attempt, I never tried again, until today.

Yesterday I tasted a wonderful quinoa salad at Chakra Cafe in Jerusalem, while having brunch with Eytan, Sharon, Elah and Roie. It was served as one of several salads, and somehow it’s simplicity caught my eye. I tasted it, loved it, and happily suceeded in reproducing the same (or similar) flavorful salad here at home today.

Since there are not too many ingredients, I was able to more or less figure out what went into the salad.

I had a bit of help from my friend Sara, whom I consulted this morning on how to actually cook the quinoa before turning it into this refreshing salad.
The ingredients for the dressing are not listed as exact amounts; you will have to taste it and adjust amounts of lemon, vinegar, olive oil, or salt, etc.

Most of the recipes that I post on this website, are family favorites. I certainly hope that this one soon turns into a family favorite.

Ingredients:

For cooking the quinoa

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups hot or boiling water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon canola oil

For the salad dressing, etc.

• 2 good-size green onions (scallions) thinly sliced
• 1 small red onion, very thinly sliced, in small (1cm or half inch) pieces
• 1 handful of flat parsley, chopped into small pieces
• lemon juice
• vinegar
• salt
• pepper

Preparation:

1. Before starting, soak the quinoa in a bowl of cool water, for half an hour.
2. Strain through fine strainer, and rinse the quinoa in some more fresh water.
3. Allow to dry.
4. Cook the quinoa: in small pot (same kind of pot you would use to make a small amount of rice), put the canola oil, add the strained and dried quinoa, mix around with the oil for a few moments on a medium flame, and then add 1 1/2 cups boiling water plus 1 teaspoon of salt.
   Bring to boil, lower flame, cover pot, and cook for about 15 minutes till ready.
   If after 15 minutes there is still water in the pot, strain the quinoa, and allow to dry, before adding the dressing ingredients.
5. Chop the green onions (scallions), slice the small red onion (into thin slivers), and gently chop the parsley.
6. Add the above to the cooked quinoa.
7. Add a generous spritz of lemon juice, and some white vinegar, and a spritz (as generous as you want) of olive oil.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Gently mix all ingredients with large spoon, taste, and adjust seasonings.
10. Enjoy.