It's Delish! Quinoa Salad

My friend Chana Malka made up this salad the other day and I have been obsessing about it ever since. It is delicious- full of fresh flavor, interesting textures, and bit of tang. She started with an Israeli salad and then added quinoa. It may sound simple, but the flavors are perfection. You must try it!

Start with 1/2 cup quinoa. This will make a salad for 2 people. (This is the easiest recipe to double, triple, etc.)

Quinoa MUST be rinsed because it contains a bitter substance around each seed. I don't have a fine colander, so I just pour the quinoa directly into the pot I am going to cook the quinoa in.

Then I pour water in the pot...

use my hand to swish the seed around....

and then drain the water out of the pot. If the seeds are trying to float away with the water, I just use my other hand to catch them and return them to the pot.

Then I add 1 cup of water to the pot and cook on high until it comes to a boil.

Ah, there it is. The water is at a boil, so I lower the flame, put on a lid, and let it cook for 15 minutes until the water has been absorbed.

While the quinoa is cooking, you can chop the vegetables. Start with two scallions. Slice off the roots.

Next, slice the scallions in half length-wise.

Then dice the scallions into small pieces.

Next, the cucumbers. I used two small Persian cucumbers, but you can always use half of one regular cucumber. I just slice off the ends:

Then I cut the cucumber into eighths.

Then chop the cucumber into a small dice.

On to the tomato:

First, take out the woody area where the stem was.

There you go!

Then cut the tomato horizontally and scoop out the seeds with a spoon.

Perfection!

Then cut the tomato into small slices...

and dice!

Now you should have a bowl that is essentially an Israeli salad! If you add some lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper,  you could serve it up as a nice side dish. But the quinoa really takes it to the next level. So let us continue.

By now, the quinoa should be done.

I like to cool the quinoa on a tin foil lined cookie sheet. This keeps the quinoa from overcooking.

Now it is time to get the lemon juice. I always start with half a lemon and then taste the salad to see if I need more.

Add the quinoa to the vegetables, add the lemon juice, a pinch of salt, a crackle of pepper, and 2 Tbsp of olive oil.

And voila! An amazing salad. This tastes best if you let it sit for at least 30 minutes. It will also keep for at least 3 days in the fridge.

Now, you could stop there and have a wonderful side dish, or...

you could add some chickpeas and feta and call it lunch! I had mine with a bowl of tomato soup and it was amazing! The chickpeas add some protein and heft, and the feta gives it a creamy, tangy bite.

Some other additions could be:

minced fresh mint

minced fresh oregano

red onion instead of scallions

switch the garbanzo beans for black beans and add fresh cilantro

crumbled goat cheese instead of feta

red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice

cherry tomatoes instead of a Roma tomato

diced red, yellow, or orange pepper