International Quinoa Salad
Whenever my husband sees that I'm cooking quinoa, his eyes light up and he asks if I'm making "The Salad." It's our favorite quinoa dish, but for a while I made it only on special occasions because I couldn't figure out how to make it without using olive oil. I was just afraid that it wouldn't be as tasty--and who can stand to see a favorite dish diminished? But I was determined to try to lighten up the recipe so that we could enjoy this fantastic salad more often, and I'm proud to say that I've done it. I think that this recipe is so good that you'll never miss the olive oil.
It's based on a recipe by Lorna Sass called Quinoa Salpiçon, a sort of South American version of the Middle Eastern grain salad tabouli, with lots of parsley as in tabouli but using quinoa instead of bulgur wheat. I like to think of it as a blend of cultures, a little of the Old World mixed with the New, though even the "new" ingredients date back thousands of years. Quinoa was first cultivated 5000 years ago. It was a staple food of the people in the Andes Mountains in Peru and Bolivia and was considered a sacred grain of the Incas. Chickpeas were first cultivated around 7000 years ago in Turkey, but their use spread from there to western Europe, and they've become an important part of the diets of many cultures.
I took the original salad and added a few ingredients--the corn and chili powder to enhance its South American flavor and the chickpeas to complement its Middle Eastern roots. And, of course, I've made it oil-free. The result is wonderful--tiny pearls of quinoa drenched in tangy, chili-seasoned dressing, with cubes of avocado that melt in your mouth and cucumbers and chickpeas for a little bit of crunch. It's a perfect marriage of ingredients--and cultures.
International Quinoa Salad
(click for printer-friendly version)
Quinoa:
1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed very well
2 1/4 cups water
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)
Vegetables:
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 medium-large tomatoes, finely chopped
kernels of 2 ears of cooked corn (about 1 cup)
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup scallions, thinly sliced
2/3 cup parsley -- minced
1/3 cup fresh mint -- minced
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced (reserve a few slices for garnish)
Dressing:
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (NOT lemon)
3 tablespoons vegetable broth or bean cooking liquid
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste (optional)
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili pepper
To cook the quinoa in a pressure cooker, place it and the water, garlic, and salt in the cooker and lock the lid. Over high heat, bring to high pressure and cook for one minute. Remove from heat and allow the pressure to come down naturally. Fluff the quinoa and allow it to cool.
Combine all of the vegetables in a large bowl. Add the quinoa and mix well. Whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad. Mix well and refrigerate until chilled. Taste before serving, and add more lime juice as necessary (you want it to be tangy). Garnish with avocado slices and serve. Makes about 10 servings.
Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free Eat to Live
Labels: eat to live, gluten-free, pressure cooker
posted by SusanV at 10:00 AM
37 Comments:
That looks great. Every once in a while I make a quinoa salad a little similar... only I use lemon in the dressing; why is it that we should "NOT"? :) THanks,
-Mary
Hi Mary--The lime juice just gives it a distinctive flavor that I like. Lemon juice would be, well, different, but if someone prefers lemon, then that's their prerogative. :-)
Gotcha. ;)
Oooh! I've been trying to figure out a fantastic recipe for the box of quinoa that's been sitting around at home, and now I've found it. Thanks--this looks incredibly yummy.
I, too, have been looking for a quinoa recipe that struck my fancy, and I think this is it! Thanks!
I always see this quinoa at markets but I didnt know what to do with it, whats the diff between bulgur and quinoa?
I'm a huge fan of quinoa. I use it pretty much anywhere I use bulgur or Cous-Cous if the item needs a protein boost of if I'm trying to reduce the refined carbs.
and you can have my olive oil when you pry it from my cold, dead hand.
which wouldn't be too hard, seeing as how it'll be nice and slippery from all that olive oil.
Click here to see image
that I think is kinda funny, tangentially...
Hi Nes London-ist, Bulgur is cracked wheat while quinoa is a totally different grain. It's very tiny (unlike wheat) and cooks very quickly. It has a natural coating that can taste bitter, so it's always recommended to wash it well before cooking.
It's similar to millet, which is another tiny grain, but for some reason, I like quinoa better. You can usually use millet in any recipe that calls for quinoa, and visa-versa.
LOL, Joanna. I think I need that bumpersticker, though around here I would probably be shot at because of it!
This looks great! I've been curious about quinoa and this might be the firsts recipe to try. How would you cook it if you didn't have a pressure cooker?
Laura, to cook it in a regular pot, heat 3 cups of water to boiling and stir in the quinoa, garlic, and salt. Return to a boil and reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Then remove it from the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes before fluffing and cooling.
I've tried this recipe and it's delicious! And as well it should be ... quinoa has 635 calories per cup and an avacado has 365. So if you're trying to lose weight remember this recipe makes "10 servings" and proportion your vegetables accordingly. : )
Also ... I tried a few substitutions.
I made a "Caribean Quinoa Salad" by removing the southwestern stuff, the jalapenos, the chipotle chili peppers etc, and added a mango salsa like chopped pineapples, chopped mangos and bananas! I make a different variation every week. The possibilities are endless ... "Caribean Quinoa Salad" , "Oriental Quinoa Salad", "Greek Quinoa Salad", "Italian Quinoa Salad" With all vegan, especially raw recipes, there are "core" vegetables and "ethnic" seasonings that give interesting and delicious variations to every dish!
mike : )
I just found your blog via Sweetnicks. Your recipes look AMAZING! I've never found a good way to use quinoa, but this recipe looks like one I'd like to try. Sounds delicious!
Hi Susanv! I'm your fan and I'm definitely going to try this recipe!
Fantastic!
And avocados and quinoas are truly an historical and geographical marriage as well!
This looks amazing. I have never used quinoa but I want to try it. All your recipes look so good your blog is such an inspiration to my cooking.
Thank you for this fantastic recipe. This was a big hit with my family.
This is definitely going to become one of my staple recipes for something healthy & delicious this summer.
Variation suggestion: Instead of parsley and mint, try lovage and mint. I got some gorgeous lovage leaves from my local farmer's market this week, and forgot to buy parsley, so that dictated my herb substitution. But it ended up being superb, because the lovage leaves have a delicate celery-like flavor, and a wonderful scent. I have never eaten lovage before, but now I will be on the lookout to use it more often.
I was poking around on the web for some quinoa salad ideas and this one looks good (though I might substitute black beans for the chick peas just because I like those, and vary the veggies a bit).
Quinoa is a good source of fiber and is high in iron, has a little calcium, and is very high in all sorts of other vitamins and minerals. I believe the Vegetarian Resource Group rated it as the most nutritionally dense grain there is (they did an article comparing various grains from a nutritional standpoint some years ago, though I don't remember all the nutrients they looked at).
I sometimes use quinoa as a substite for rice, though of course it's not really the same flavor or texture -- but you can still use it in some of the same ways, and it's more nutritious.
If you dont have a pressure cooker, can you use a rice cooker(like the asian kinds?)?
Yes, you can use a rice cooker, but I'm not sure of the amount of water to use. Maybe start with 3 cups and check it often to see if it needs more--or see if there are directions in your rice cooker's manual.
I cook quinoa in a rice cooker, using the exact proportions I would use for white rice. It's easy and always turns out great!
Hi Susan
This looks wonderful and will be on my dinner menu this week. Thank you for another beautiful recipe.
Also, the cajun food was FABULOUS! The red beans & rice were my favorite.
War Eagle!
Brooke
I made this salad for dinner yesterday and it was so good!!!! Thanks for the recipe :o)
I cannot seem to find chipotle spice anywhere among the spices. Can I substitute cayenne pepper or some other pepper? Thanks!
Instead of chipotle powder, any of the following would work:
regular chili powder
smokey hungarian paprika
a little bit of chopped, canned chipotles
cayenne pepper
I just made this salad - it is absolutely fabulous. I did make a couple of changes.
I doubled the dressing and added 1 tsp of olive oil plus a 1/2 packet of stevia. I found the dressing a bit sour for my taste.
Hi Susan,
This was a great recipe. Mine did not turn out as pretty as the one you pictured, but it was tastey. I put a picture of mine on my blog and a copy of your recipe. Very yummy! Thanks for sharing.
I tried this recipe yesterday and it turned out pretty good. I didn't use pressure cooker. Just started with 2 cups of water for 1 cup of quinoa and then added 1/2 cup of liquid from canned chickpea. Since I left it in the fridge and ate today, there was lil extra water from cucumber. So, its better to eat after few hours of chilling. I stuck to the original vegetables except for chipotle pepper. Jalapeno pepper itself added the required heat to it. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. I will definitely try this again.
Susan, made the salad and it was/is good. Used Chipotle Tabasco sauce in the dressing and ended up adding some garlic rice vinegar too. My daughter and I have decided to make a variation with cilantro instead of parsley and add black beans to the mix. Your site has become my favorite - thank you for taking the time to share your love of cooking with us.
thank you so much for sharing this wonderfull recipe!i cooked it twice in 3 days and everybody was raving about this salad. we like it a little bit spicier, so i added an extra chilli.
Wow! This looks delicious. I need to try that salad. I've been wanting to try quinoa, but have not yet. What am I waiting for? ;)
I am new to your blog, but love it! I'll be back.
Have a great Monday!
This is a labor-intensive, but excellent dish. I added 1/2 a red pepper, used 1 yellow instead of 2 red heirloom tomatoes, and only used about 1 cup of quinoa. I recommend cubing the avocado right before eating so it doesn't look brown. Good job, Susan!
Ok, the girl with the stupid questions here again. The recipe says it makes 10 servings, but I assume it means as a side dish, right? I usually cook just one dish, because I don't have much energy, and most of the time I only cook for myself (don't mind eating left-overs for several days, though). So if I cook this as a main dish (as a meal in itself), can I assume it won't make more than 4-5 servings or should I make less than the full recipe? I would have tried to estimate from the nutritional information, but there is none.
I'd say that 10 servings is as a side dish. As a main dish, I'd estimate 4 very large servings or 6 regular sized ones. It's been a while since I made it, though, so those are just guesses.
In the end I made 2/3 of the recipe so that I wouldn't end up with too much. It made about 4.5 servings, but I used a little more quinoa and more chickpeas than I should have. It kept well for four days, better than I expected.
It was very tasty, I think it was better the next day - I couldn't get the lime juice to blend evenly right when I made it even with heavy mixing, so there were quite sour bites and almost bland bites, but the net day it was great, more cool and refreshing than tangy as such. This is definitely summer food, not really something for January in Finland, heh. I will try it again in the summertime.
As much as I like chickpeas, I got the feeling that some other legume would have worked better for the dish, but it could be just me.
Oh, and a photo - I arranged the avocado garnish in a slightly different manner so that it wouldn't look like I copied your style: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiikus/2168510009/
I found your blog while searching for vegetarian/vegan dishes that are low in fat because I am trying to work my way to becoming a vegetarian right now. I still eat seafood so I am not quite there yet...
I made my first dish from your recipes today! This is the one! And I just finished mixing it up and am waiting to eat it in a few hours for lunch..... but I tasted it already before putting it in the refrigerator and OHHHHHHHHHHHHH its sooooooo DELICIOUS!! I have never had quinoa before but I had bought some at a nutritional store just last week. I have been going through your recipes since last week and decided to make this one.
I can't wait to try more of your recipes!!
Thank you SO much!
I hope my mother-in-law likes this!! I am very sure she has never ever seen or heard of quinoa but she is on orders from her doctor to eat healthier. I am going to serve her a portion with her lunch by putting it in a halved avocado shell(is that what you call it?) with sliced avocados on top.
I am also excited now because I am going to try different combos of veggies/fruits to make different kinds of quinoa salads too!
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