Before dive into the actual recipe of making the Quinoa Salad, let me give some quick info about Quinoa. We Indians are quite new to this food item and haven’t started using it very often in our recipes.
Quinoa pronounced as ‘kveen.vaa’ has originated from South American before coming to our kitchen as a healthy stable diet. Quinoa is gluten-free, high in protein, and one of the few plant foods that contain a sufficient amount of all the nine essentials fatty acids, besides having a good amount of antioxidants in them. So now we know why it is so popular in the ‘ Vegan’s Diet’.
After this quick intro, let’s go to the actual recipe for preparing a Quinoa salad.
Measurements::
For the Salad:
a) Quinoa ::1 Cup,b) Red and Yellow Bell Paper:: ½ Cup each,c)Green Chilies:: 1 piece,f) Few pieces of Black or Green Olives(optional).
For the Dressings::
a) Olive Oil:: 2 tsp,b) Lemon Juice::2 tsp,c) Honey:: 2 tsp,d) Black Pepper:: 1 tsp,e) Salt to taste.
Directions::
- Preparing Quinoa:: Take 1 Cup of Quinoa and rinse it properly to wash off the bitter coating outside the seeds and soak them for ½ an hour. Put on the stove and bring 2 cups of water to boil in a pan. Add the soak Quinoa and bring everything to a boil for 5 minutes. Then simmer the stove to low to medium flame and put the led on. Cook for 10 minutes. After that turn off the heat and by now all the water is soaked up properly. Flip of the Quinoa with a fork and transfer them to another bowl. Your Quinoa is ready.
- Salad making:: Cut 1/2 cup of red and yellow bell peppers each, some green chilies and slice few pieces of green olives(optional). Heat a pan with 1 tsp of Olive Oil and toss them together for 5 minutes, so that the crunchiness in the veggies remains.
- Salad Dressing:: Take 2 tsp of Olive oil,2tsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt to taste, and 2tsp of honey and 1tsp of Black Pepper. Mix them into a smooth paste.
- Now add all the ingredients together and decorate them with some lemon slices and green chilies.
Your Quinoa salad is ready. Enjoy it as a quick snack option or as a healthy breakfast alternative.
Do leave your comments about how you tasted it?
