Quinoa Salad
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
salt
6 dried apricots, finely diced
2 tablespoon snipped chives or scallions
3 tablespoon finely diced yellow bell pepper (red works too)
1/4 cup dried currants
3 tablespoon pine nuts (I prefer pumpkin seeds)
Vinaigrette:
grated lemon zest and lemon juice from one lemon
2 tablespoon chopped cilantro or parsley
1/4 teaspoon paprika, 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
salt to taste
4 tablespoon olive oil
Rinse the quinoa thoroughly in cold water then pour into a fine meshe'd strainer and rinse again under running water.
Bring water to boil add salt, stir in the quinoa.
Lower the heat, cover and cook for 15 minutes. taste the grain. There should be just a little resistance and the opaque spiraled ring of germ should show. if necessary continue cooking till done.
Pour into strainer and set it to drain over a bowl. (Save the liquid and it can replace the oil in the vinaigrette or be used in soups.)
Toast the pine nuts (or pumpkin seeds) in a dry pan till they are golden brown.
Toss the warm quinoa with the apricots, currants, bell pepper, scallions, pine nuts and vinaigrette.
Vinaigrette:
Combine zest, cilantro/parsley, cumin, coriander, paprika and salt in a bowl, stir then whisk in the olive oil, add lemon juice to taste.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I make this salad all the time. It is fabulous. If I bring it to cookouts, everyone asks for the recipe. I make it exactly like the recipe, except I use three color peppers, orange, yellow and red. The colors of the peppers with the currants and green onions are amazing. Sometimes I chop all three peppers and increase the other ingredients. I make the sald with the proportional amounts and freeze the rest. Then if I want the salad I just have to cook the quinoa and add the pepper mixture and dressing. This is a great recipe.