Once again I'm playing with the UFO's! Yes, quinoa's part of this dish too, and this was today's dinner.
I decided to do this because I have a vegan friend and I wanted to do this to see if I could possibly use it for my graduation party. This recipe is, like the previous, really easy to change to fit what you have at home, or if you happen to live, like me, in a place where certain fresh spices are hard to come by at certain times of the year (or the stores don't stock them), you can use the dried versions. The Mexican Quinoa Salad was really easy to make, but the recipe involves beans so if you decide to use dry beans rather than canned ones, make sure you have plenty of time as for example the black beans I used needed 8 hours to soak before being cooked for 30-40 minutes... Anyway, onwards to the recipe:
Mexican QuinoaSalad (4 servings)
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup UFO's (or Quinoa for you normal people out there)
1/2 red bell pepper or yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small jalapeno, seeded and diced finely (This is optional (leave it out if you do not like spicy food, add more or include some of the seeds if you like things hotter. My sister is not a big fan of spicy foods so I left it out)
1 small red onion, chopped fine or 2 green onions, chopped fine
2 roma tomatoes, chopped or 6 grape tomatoes, halved
1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans (or other beans, I prefer black beans)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup salsa (fresh or homemade is best) - I made my own salsa, and I'm putting the recipe below. If you have a recipe you like, use that!
1 tablespoon canola oil
Juice of 1 lime (I used lemon juice since limes here are not the best this season...keep in mind that if you do use lemon juice, lemon is often a bit "milder" and isn't as concentrated as lime juice, so you may have to add some extra)
fresh ground black pepper
sea salt
How to do it:
1. Boil the UFO's until it's done according to the package. While you're doing that, you can make the rest, like boil beans (if needed), chop vegetables and maybe even the salsa if you make your own.
2. Let the UFO's and beans cool off before mixing them with the rest of the ingredients. And you're done. Can be saved and refrigerated for a few days or it can be served straight away.
Salsa
6 tomatoes, preferably Roma (or 3 large tomatoes)
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 jalapeño peppers, finely chopped
3 Tbsp cilantro, chopped to taste fresh lime juice
1/8 tsp oregano, finely crushed
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 avocado, diced (black skin)
How to do it:
1. Combine all ingredients in glass bowl. I don't think the kind of bowl matters, but okay. Anyway, if you happen to be short on some ingredient, never mind; it will be okay anyway!
2. Serve immediately or refrigerate and serve within 4–5 hours.
Fresh herbs add plenty of flavor to this salsa, so you use less salt. Like I said, you can used the dried herbs instead, but fresh is usually better.
I mixed the Salsa with the salad, but if some people don't like it, then serve it on the side :)
Enjoy!
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