Quinoa: the wonder food, made my eyes blink

The social networking brings us so closer and we get enlightened every other day. I saw a post from one of my friend in facebook who stays miles away from me that she prepared quinoa salad for the first time in her life. She was excited obviously and posted it in facebook. I blinked my eyes couple of times, jumped up and started searching net for its nutritional benefits. And my eyes never stopped blinking from then on as it is very rich in iron, magnesium, protein, fibres, omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin E, carbohydrate, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese, folate, phosphorus, vitamin Bs, calcium. What else one wants from a single food!! Quinoa has a high protein-to-carbohydrate ratio when compared with other grain products. It was proposed by NASA to be an ideal food for long duration space flights.

Then next step was to search for a simple recipe and I have zeroed in with this simple salad recipe. Sharing with you all.

Ingredients for quinoa salad:

• 4 cups vegetable broth (you can also use water instead)
• 1 1/2 cups raw whole grain quinoa
• 1 cucumber, sliced
• 1 red or yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup lightly steamed broccoli florets
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Method:

• First, cook the quinoa in water or in vegetable stock until it fluffs up, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• While the quinoa is cooking, whisk together the fresh lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic cloves and salt and pepper.
• When the quinoa is finished cooking, allow to cool slightly, then, toss the quinoa with the vegetables and the lemon juice dressing mix, stirring to combine well. Add more salt and pepper to taste, and chill before serving if you have the time.
• You can add boiled peas or chick peas or black beans as per your taste.

  

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