Make My Day Camp: Quinoa Tabbouli Salad

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Quinoa Tabbouli Salad

Dave has been nice about going the grocery store as long as I give him a list, so I sent him the other day to pick up ingredients for enchilada suizas (tortillas, salsa verde, and cilantro). He comes home and tells me a story about using the self-checkout register but needing help because the scanner wouldn't let him ring up cilantro, he called for help and the person told him he couldn't ring up cilantro because what he was buying was, in fact, parsley. He argued and said no, it's cilantro and it won't let me ring it up...

...I wasn't totally listening to his rambling story until I looked at what he brought home and it's parsley. Not cilantro. Then I made him repeat the story and asked why he bought the parsley when the cashier told him it's not cilantro? He had no answer. And I'm laughing out loud writing this ridiculousness down. What the?

Moving on to the point of this post. I love tabbouli (also spelled tabbouleh), traditionally made with bulgar wheat, tomato, lemon, fresh mint and (ding-ding) fresh parsley. So guess what I made since I found myself with a big bunch of parsley? :)

I didn't have bulgar wheat on hand, so googled to see if I could substitute cooked quinoa since I have a big bag of tricolor quinoa and sure enough, found a bunch of recipes. I loosely followed one found here but you can customize this easily by adding scallions or onions, garlic, more or less quinoa, tomato, herbs...Quinoa is gluten free, easy to prepare, is a good source of protein, and has a nice texture - I'm happy to report the 'cilantro' incident turned out so good!

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
1 big bunch of Italian (flat-leaf, not curly - looks similar to cilantro!) parsley, stemmed and minced
1 small bunch of fresh mint, stemmed and minced
3 tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/4 cup lemon juice, or to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 t. coarse salt, or to taste

Rinse uncooked quinoa in cold water using a fine mesh strainer until the water runs clear. Drain. Put in a skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the moisture is gone. Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for a few minutes until it begins to turn golden brown. Remove from heat. NOTE: you can skip toasting the quinoa first but it does add a nice flavor.

Place toasted quinoa in a saucepan along with 1 cup water, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover the pan. Cook for approx 10 minutes until tender, but not mushy. Stir and let cool to room temperature.

Whisk together the lemon juice, olive and salt in a medium bowl. Add minced herbs, diced tomatoes, and cooked quinoa, stir to combine. Season with additional lemon juice or salt to taste. Serve at room temperature, or chill in the fridge.