I recently spent some quality time with my family on vacation. Besides catching up with everyone, one of my favorite things is getting food inspiration. Everyone in my family loves to eat, cook and share recipes. I was born into the right family! My brother D and his wife U are into quinoa. U made a yummy quinoa salad while we were all together (must get that recipe!). It inspired me to find a recipe so I could try it out on my own.
I dug into my cookbooks and found a Black Bean Quinoa Salad in My Moosewood Restaurant Low Fat Favorites cookbook that combined many of the ingredients I already love with tasty and nutritious quinoa. Done deal. I changed the recipe a bit based on what I had in the kitchen, to simplify the preparation and to suit my taste, so here's my version:
Black Bean Quinoa Salad
1/3 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1 tsp. veg or olive oil
juice from one fresh lime
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
handful finely chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tblsp. finely chopped onion
1 -15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 10 oz. can diced tomato with jalapeno (drained)
3-4 Roma tomatoes, diced (in total you want about 2 cups of tomato whether you use one can and fresh. If you use all fresh tomatoes, add some hot pepper of your choice for a little heat.)
1 diced red pepper
salt & pepper to taste
lime wedges
Rinse the quinoa well under cool running water - I had to use a bowl and just drain the water out several times since the dry quinoa would have gone right through my sieve! In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil, add the quinoa, cover and simmer on low heat until all the water is absorbed and the quinoa is tender, about 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.
Combine black beans, tomatoes, peppers, onion and cooled quinoa in a medium to large bowl. Combine the oil, lime juice, cumin and cilantro in a smaller bowl, whisk together and pour over salad mixture. Combine thoroughly, add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish with lime wedges. Serves 4. Enjoy!
If you have a favorite quinoa recipe, please tell me about it. I'd love to try it out!
5 comments:
Rebecca from Girl's Gone child eats a lot of Quinoa and has started posting recipes using it. Here's a link to one post:
http://www.girlsgonechild.net/2010/07/eat-well-quinoancore-bok-wok-teriyak.html
Sweet! Have to try this. I think it will look great with red / black quinoa too!
Here is my recipe (adapted from Vegetarian Times):
Simmer 1 cup red or black quinoa with vegetable juice (use amount of liquid as per cooking directions) for 20 minutes. Add 1 cup frozen green peas and cook 2 more minutes without stirring. Remove from heat. Add some chopped scallion, one diced golden delicious apple, toasted almond slices, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Optional: add feta cheese and avocado. Serve at room temperature. Yum!
YUM this looks delicious! I am going to have to try it. I never know what to do with quinoa :-/
Looks delish, but what is quinoa? I'm a meat and potato girl but always willing to expand. ;)
Yes! Black beans and quinoa together! Freaking genius!
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