Undoubtedly, my favorite grain is quinoa. We use it in place of rice, for variety. I think it is beautiful. The pearls turn translucent when cooked and the pretty little spiral threads that curl off the grains are enchanting. This summer, I’ve discovered cold grain salads — and quinoa makes delicious cold salads. This is a very flexible and forgiving recipe that you can really make your own.
Cold Quinoa Salad
I hope the fact that this is a “to taste” recipe won’t discourage you from giving it a try. See what tastes good to you and give it a go!
- 4 cups cold cooked plain quinoa*
- 1 cup cooked and cold pinto beans (or other bean of your choice)
- 1/4 cup shredded goat cheddar cheese
- other add-ins of your choice — diced or shredded veggies or sliced olives
- oil of your choice — extra virgin olive oil, red palm oil**, or grapeseed oil
- dash of toasted sesame oil
- vinegar of your choice — balsamic, raw apple cider or rice
- sea salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, or to taste
Put quinoa in a big salad bowl. Use a wooden spoon to separate the grains. Add the beans, cheese and add-ins. Toss, taking care not to smash the beans. Add oils, vinegar, sea salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Adjust to taste.
*To cook quinoa: Rinse 2 cups uncooked quinoa in a sieve under cold running water for 2 minutes. Transfer to stainless steel medium size pot. Add 4 cups filtered water and 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or other desired oil). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes, undisturbed. Turn off the heat. Let cool. Chill.
**If using red palm oil: If red palm oil is solid at room temperature (depending on the season), mix it with the quinoa while the quinoa is still warm. Then chill the quinoa thoroughly before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.
© Copyright 2007 by Wardeh Harmon
I was wondering where you buy your quinoa. The little boxes at Trader Joe’s are expensive, aren’t they? I was also wondering where you buy your oatmeal. I use the Irish cut oatmeal in cans which is really yummy but prohibitively expensive!
Yes, it can be expensive that way. I buy it in bulk — 25 or 50 pounds at a time — from the natural food co-op, Azure Standard, or a natural food warehouse nearby. If you don’t know of one in your area, I would recommend going into your natural food store and asking them about ordering a bag of either through them. They’ll often give a wholesale plus 10% or 15% price, which can be a tremendous savings. If it sounds like too much for you to buy, perhaps you have a friend who will split it with you? Or perhaps they offer a 5 or 10 lb bag. Hope this helps! -Wardeh
Thanks a lot, Wardeh! I actually did locate some potential co-ops, an hour or two away. We really need to budget our expenses and your web-site is an inspiration on how to do this and eat really good food at the same time!
I order my quinoa via the web from Ancient Harvest’s outlet at http://www.quinoa.net. Our standard grain dish mixes white quinoa, red quinoa and short grain brown rice in equal quantities, cooking the rice and red for 20 min before adding the white for an additional 20 min. season to taste – dry onions, salt and pepper for us. We also use a bit of the quinoa flakes in our granola recipe.
Hi Wardeh! I’m back looking at your recipes again. I just started playing with quinoa, and was pretty sure I could count on you for at least one recipe. I’m also playing with miso, and have everything to try my hand at some sushi, including a nice piece of sashimi tuna. I love sashimi, but my guys won’t touch it (more for me). Thanks again for some inspiration.
It can be expensive buying smaller containers. If you have a Home econismist market, or an EarthFare in your area, Ours carrys the big bulk bins of everything you can think of. I normally pay anywhere between $1-$2 a pound for my quinoa in either red or regular, and the same for my steel cut oats. or any other grains or beans.