Bolivian Independence Day: Celebrate with this traditional quinoa salad

It's HOT where I live, so I'm not going to cook today! And I also have the perfect excuse: Today is Bolivia's Independence Day and since the South American country is the world's top producer of yummy and nutritious power food quinoa, I'm going with a quinoa salad to celebrate. The grain is rich in protein and contains all nine essential amino acids; it's rich in fiber, reduces your risk of diabetes and cardiac disease, and on top of all that, it's great for your waistline. If you haven't tried quinoa, I invite you to try it. Check out below to see my recipe for a wonderfully tasty quinoa salad. Enjoy!

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This recipe is my own adaptation of traditional Middle Easter tabbouleh. Instead of bulgur, I substituted with quinoa. And it's amazing, I hope you like it!

Quinoa Tabbouleh
Makes 6 servings

__Ingredients:
__1 cup rinsed quinoa
1 1/4 cups water
Salt
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
1 unpeeled cucumber, rinsed and diced
2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in halves or regular tomato chopped
2 cups minced parsley
1/4 cup chopped mint leaves
4 green onions, chopped

Preparation:

  1. Boil quinoa en a pot with water and 1/2 teaspoon salt. When it's in a rolling boil, lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes, until quinoa is soft. Turn off heat and set aside.
  2. Spread quinoa in an oven-proof dish and refrigerate until cold (about 20 minutes).
  3. In a bowl, mix the olive oil and the lemon juice with salt to taste.
  4. In a large bowl, mix the parsley, the mind, the cucumber, the tomato and the green onion. Add cold quinoa to this bowl.
  5. Add the oil-lemon vinaigrette. 
  6. This salad tastes much better cold, and even better if you let it marinate overnight in the fridge.

Image via De buena mesa