The fella: What is it?
Me: Quinoa.
The fella: What is it?
Me: Quinoa. It's an ancient grain. All the people who eat things we've never heard of eat it. You know. Hipsters. 'Sposed to be better for you than rice or potatoes.
The fella: But what is it?
Me: Don't worry about it. It's round rice. Just eat it.
The fella: Round rice? That's fun.
½ hour later ...
The fella: That was gross.
Me: Yup.
The fella: What was that again?
Me: Gross.
That's the approximate conversation from a few years ago when I made Quinoa for the first time. It was also the last time I made it until last year when we underwent the dreaded, asshead, whole foods, takes 17 hours and knocking a cow on the head to make dinner, "meal plan". Not a diet. It was a "meal plan".
The meal plan included a recipe for Stuffed Peppers made with Quinoa instead of rice. I gave them a shot, they were gross and I put the Quinoa back in the cupboard just behind the 7 year old "Family Pack" of Lipton Cup-a-Soup but slightly in front of the cardboard box of "potatoes".
Then last summer we went for dinner at a local restaurant which served Quinoa salad. Out of the blue that's what the fella ordered for an appetizer. He must have been having one of his adventurous days. Or he thought Quinoa was French for chocolate cake covered with chocolate sprinkles, filled with chocolate pudding on a bed of Chunky Monkey ice cream. He loved it (the Quinoa salad). He loved it a lot.
He loved it so much it led to an assault. More on that later.
Seems all those years ago I was making quinoa. I was making it gross.
Quinoa's kindda like rice. Or tofu. You need to add stuff to it to make it more than just a lump of something on your plate.
As we were leaving the restaurant the fella saw a man with food stains all over his clothes walking in. Now, I would have assumed this guy was just a messy eater. The fella assumed he was a "cook", and grabbed the fella by the lapels and said "HEY! Are you the one griddling up stuff?" Or something like that.
Quite possibly on the verge of making another stain on his clothes, Jeff Crump, owner of several high end restaurants around town said ... Yup. I'm the owner and chef.
The fella: WHAT'S IN THAT QUINOA SALAD??!!!
Jeff: Um ... er ... um ... well there's quinoa and some lemon and some oil and um ...
While the shake down was going on, I had my iPhone out recording all of the ingredients.
A few days later I scratched out some semblance of the recipe and we've been eating it ever since. It's not as good as the one in the Bread Bar restaurant but it's good enough for you people.
HAH!
So ... do you have yourself a bag of Quinoa with no idea what to do with it?
Do this ...
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
Gather your Ingredients ...
1 cup Quinoa
1 Tbsp. White Wine Vinegar
3 Tbsps Olive Oil
2 Green (spring) Onions (sliced thin)
1 Cup drained and rinsed black beans (scant)
1 Cup drained and rinsed chick peas (scant)
1 - 2 jalapeno peppers (diced super-fine)
Lemon (for juice)
Feta Cheese
Cook the quinoa. For this recipe I just use the immersion method. Dump your cup of Quinoa into slightly salted boiling water (uncovered). The amount of water doesn't matter. 4 cups or so. Simmer for 13-14 minutes. Drain.
Add quinoa to a big bowl, mix in vinegar, olive oil, green onions, black beans, chick peas, jalapeno peppers and a big squeeze of lemon juice. Crack in some pepper, add a sprinkle of salt (not too much) and top with feta cheese. Taste and adjust salt if needed. (remember the feta cheese is really salty, so you may not need to add salt at all)
The first day this salad tastes O.K. The second day, it tastes like something that would prompt you to grab someone by the lapels and scream "WHAT'S IN THAT QUINOA SALAD?!?"
Jeff Crump by the way, is the chef who graciously let me use his pizza dough recipe on this site. The one from his fantastic Earth To Table cookbook. Jeff Crump has no idea my fella was the one that accosted him for his organic, Quinoa and fresh feta salad recipe, and I plan to keep it that way.
Quinoa? What's that.
Amendment: Many people are commenting that Quinoa needs to be rinsed. While that used to be true, it no longer is. Most commercially processed Quinoa now comes with the bitter, outer shell already removed. Unless you're buying your Quinoa from a local farmer or sometimes in bulk, you do not need to rinse and soak your Quinoa.
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KimS
Well I’ve made this quinoa salad so many times! I just love it. The other day I was wondering how long I’ve been following your blog and now I have an idea — these comments are dated 2012! I’m getting old….guess that means you are too! Better than the alternative!!
Karen
I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THIS SALAD! Now's the perfect time for it so thanks old timer, lol. ~ karen!
Kat - the other 1
Stupid question incoming...
Is this served hot?
Or cold?
(I have read of hot salads, so it's not a completely stupid question.) :p
Karen
It's a cold salad. :) ~ karen!
Jen Morris
I made this salad this morning and am currently sitting here eating it for lunch and it's delicious. Thank you for the recipe - it's my first time eating quinoa :)
JBess
Thank you so much for this! I made it for a potluck last night and it was so good someone literally STOLE the leftovers at the end of the night. I'll be making it again this week, I wanted those leftovers so bad.
By the way, since I didn't have enough quinoa for a double batch (I had just enough red and regular quinoa together to make one cup) I threw in a whole bag of spinach, and extra oil, white balsamic vinegar, and pepper. It added enough to make a respectable sized potluck offering and was super tasty, I liked the little extra crunch from the spinach and it looked extra colorful and enticing in the bowl.
Karen
JBess - Yup! I bet the spinach was a good addition. ~ karen!
Rebecca
So far the best quinoa salad I've had! I think this might be a go-to for my carb load meals. Delicious!
Karen
Thanks Rebecca! Glad you like it. Perfect for this time of year. (Unless you're in Australia!) ~ karen
Diane Stairs
I read your article in the Spec this morning and added your blog to my favorites...love everything about it. I will be making the Quinoa Salad tonight!!!
Karen
Thanks Diane! Hope it was a good article! (I haven't read it yet) Kathy Renwald was great. ~ karen
too shy to say
Does quinoa give any one else gas? I've rinsed it well and it still is giving me, um, negative feedback.
Karen
too shy to say - Me? No. No gas. The fella? He's a fella. Everything gives him hysterical gas. And by hysterical I mean, it makes him laugh to no end. I do seem to recall someone else saying it did give them gas though. Can't remember if it was a Facebook or a blog comment. You're not alone though. ~ karen
Amy
I like quinoa, and have a good recipe for curried quinoa and butternut squash I invented (it's very much a fall/winter recipe). It was once voted best recipe at a work pot-luck (doesn't sound like much, but there were good cooks at that office). I'll email it to you, if you like...
--Amy
Karen
Thanks Amy, that'd be great. I like curry and butternut squash so I'm bound to like the recipe. ~ karen! (just click on the envelope mail icon at the top right of the site to email me)
Katy
I've never made, nor tried quinoa, ever. Then I stumbled upon your recipe and thought, "hell! why not try it if it's worthy of grabbing someone by their lappels!" So I conquered this recipe lastnight and LOVED it! I think ill use a bit less jalapeno next time, my children weren't exactly pleased with the heat lol. Thanks for the recipe!
Karen
You're welcome! ~ karen
ELISE
KARENNNNNN!
I'VE MADE THIS TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW!
THANK YOU!!!!!
<3 <3 elise
Karen
Excellent. Don't get Quinoiaed out! ~ karen
Bols
So I finally made the salad last night. I cooked the quinoa on Sunday but didn't have time for anything else. I was surprised by how good the quinoa was on its own, with nothing added. I think the beauty of the salad is that one can virtually add anything. I went with chopped red pepper, chopped dry cranberries, chopped red beet (raw), sliced almonds, lots of dill, lime juice, say sauce and rice vinegar. I think that's it? I did not add any garlic because I felt it was so good even without it (and that's quite rare for me to say that).
Next time, I will go with maybe grapefruit and mango, and feta.
I used red quinoa and I had to rinse it (it said so on the box).
thanks, Karen, for this excellent recipe!
nancy
Wow, I just cook it like rice, in the rice cooker, I think it's good. I mix it with a little grated asiago while it's hot. But then, I am more like your sister that doesn't cook. I completely skip the menu posts.
Karen
Really? But I usually include a really good knock knock joke in each one! ~ karen
ghilto
Love this recipe but one correction, quinoa is not a grain, it is a seed. It can be confusing; most people think that tomatoes and avacodos are vegetables.
Pat
I've been making Quinoa salad for a couple of summers now; recipe came from Canadian Living mag or Homemakers mag, something like that. It's similar to yours (my recipe has diced red pepper thrown in which is tasty and colourful) and tangy aside burgers, grilled fare. Just don't tell your family it's something different until they've eaten it a couple of times!! No turned up noses then. And thankfully quinoa, now that it's more popular, seems to have come down in price! Those teeny little boxes used to be painful to buy!
Carolyn
Karen,
I made this tonight & it was yummy!!
I can't wait to try the leftovers.
Next time I'll make it in advance & let the flavors meld.
Carolyn
Karen
Excellent! Yes, it really is one of those things that's better the next day. ~ karen!
Ally
I'm so thankful for your recipe ...I've had a whole bag of quinoa for a couple of months, and did not know what to do with it.
My hubby loved your recipe too. And he's a tough one! ;-)
Love,
Ally
Karen
You made it, did you? Glad you liked it. It really is better the next day. ~ karen!
Ally
Ouch! we ate it all yesterday! I will make some more today....easy, healthy and fabulous.....then we'll have it tomorrow. LOL
Thanks again for a great simple recipe.
Love your site! :-)
//Ally
Andreae
I love quinoa! I make a quinoa and brown rice salad with cashews and red peppers and oranges and green onions and a bunch of other crap and it's fantastic, and super proteiny. I also use cooked quinoa in place of ground beef in chili recipes, and I throw leftover cooked quinoa in cornmeal-blueberry (or any berry, really) muffins. I also made some kind of quinoa-feta burgers once, from a recipe that was floating around Pinterest. They were great.
Bols
I have some red quinoa that I purchased a while ago (a long while ago I might add at Home Sense [they often have interesting stuff in the food section]). Thanks for this post, Karen. The quinoa is going to see the daylight today and I am making the salad. I will probably combine your and Laurel's recipes (a good thing x 2 is an even better thing, right?).
Louise
I've been doing this Cristina Ferrare's Roasted Vegetable Quinoa for a while and I really love it. I made a mistake once and used bulghur instead but it was as good. Here's the link to her recipe: http://www.oprah.com/own-cristinas-big-bowl-of-love/Roasted-Vegetable-Quinoa-Recipe