Quinoa is a pseudo cereal. It is a grain crop. Cultivated mainly for its seeds it is a delightful modern day addition to the grocery list. It has a nutty flavor and it retains spices beautifully. Cooking it is easy. If you have learnt to cook rice then cooking quinoa is cinch. I like to use a rice cooker to cook quinoa because there is no starch which can be fattening. In fact it is an all protein edible seed.
I use one is to two proportion of quinoa to water in my rice cooker and get a rather fluffy loose texture which works beautifully for this salad.
My food word for this recipe would be hardy.
When you go shopping look for:
Quinoa
Broccoli
Cherry tomatoes
Feta
Peppers
Balsamic vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
Garlic
Salt
Sugar
Pepper
Red chilli flakes
Candied walnuts
The recipe would be:
Boil a cup of quinoa using the rice cooker or any other method. Take a medium sized broccoli and steam only the florets. Take about ten cherry tomatoes. Next halve a red pepper and a yellow pepper. Cut the peppers in slanting one inch pieces. The recipe needs about fifty gms of feta.
Mince six pods of garlic. To get to the dressing in a bowl mix one and a half tbsp each of balsamic vinegar, water and extra virgin olive oil. Add the minced garlic. Then add half a tsp sugar, salt and pepper. I also add a dash of red chilli flakes. Dissolve the sugar with a tea spoon. This is your dressing.
To make the salad mix all the ingredients and toss them all with the dressing. Sprinkle some candied walnuts. Store in the refrigerator and serve cold.
