Red Quinoa Tabouleh

If you’ve never tried quinoa or would like to know more about it, check here. Tabouleh is traditionally made with bulgur, which is made from wheat. Quinoa gives a great nutty flavor and is great for those who can’t eat wheat.

The first time I tasted quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) was in the early 90s when I lived in Tucson. A friend was a caterer and made a quinoa salad. I was hooked, but I never tried to make anything with it myself. Recently, I bought a bag of red quinoa from the bulk bin at a health food store, determined to try cooking it myself.

A friend here in Kona invited me over for lunch a couple weeks ago. She made a Quinoa Tabouleh from a recipe found on a prepackaged bag of quinoa. Here is my own version, using the red quinoa sitting in my cupboard.

RED QUINOA TABOULEH

1 cup cooked and cooled quinoa (See “Notes” on how to cook quinoa)
½ cup chopped parsley
¼ cup chopped chives
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
1 clove minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh basil
Juice of one large lime
1/8 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground sea salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Toss all the ingredients together. Chill to allow flavors to blend before you eat.

This amount makes enough for one large serving, or two or three smaller servings. The Bearss lime was picked from my tree, and the herbs were all freshly picked from my garden. I’ll definitely make this again.

Notes: For this recipe, bring 1 cup water to a boil in a sauce pan. Add ½ cup quinoa and brought it back to a boil. Then cover, lower heat to medium and cook until water is fully absorbed by the quinoa, about 12+ minutes. Take it off the heat, fluff it up, cover again, and let it stand. I should have added a smidge more water to this and let it cook a little longer. You need to test it to make sure you can chew it. My dish was a little nuttier than I remembered, but it was still tasty.

The top photo was taken with flash; this one was made with no flash. Which do you think makes the tabouleh look better?

A hui hou!

This post was entered into the “Grow Your Own” roundup, created by Andrea’s Recipes and hosted this month by House of Annie.