• Quinoa Salad with Smoky Lime Dressing

    posted March 3rd, 2008  :: Salads, Side Dishes, The Recipes:, Vegan, Whole Grains :: 
    Power lunch

    You are all blowing me away with your ideas for organizing my spice cabinet. And I send little bear hugs to those of you who confessed that your own spice cabinet looks just like mine, and in some cases even worse! Let’s consider ourselves united in our slackerly pantry ways.

    Now I wish that someone could come over to my house and actually do the work for me, but I realize that wasn’t in our agreement.

    Oh, well. My mistake.

    I’m going to need all the energy I can muster to tackle the project, so I think I’ll just go and eat some quinoa. You probably know that quinoa is known variously as the wonder grain, the mother grain, a miracle among grains. It cooks quickly, has an appealing texture, mild, nutty flavor, and by golly, is just plain good for you – loaded with protein, calcium, vitamins and minerals.

    I wrote this article about grains for Sauce magazine recently. The following simple quinoa salad recipe is modified just slightly from the one published in Sauce – I just switched the black-eyed peas for black beans. Enjoy…

    Quinoa and Black Bean Salad with Smoky Lime Dressing

    1 cup quinoa (Inca Red from Ancient Harvest is my fave)
    4 green onions, thinly sliced
    1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
    1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
    3 tablespoons olive oil
    2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
    2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
    1 tablespoon low-sodium teriyaki sauce or soy sauce
    2 teaspoons sugar
    1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
    1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
    1 small garlic clove, finely chopped

    Place the quinoa and 2 cups water in a medium saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil.

    Lower heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in the green onions, black-eyed peas, and cilantro.

    Puree the remaining ingredients together in a food processor; pour over quinoa and stir to coat with dressing. Serve warm or at room temperature.

    Makes 4 – 6 servings.

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    1. Liza

      March 3, 2008
      11:11 am

      I am still working on convincing S that he could like quinoa. Maybe if I put beans in it…

    2. Lori

      March 3, 2008
      11:11 am

      I love quinoa. I have it a lot with black beans and squash and tomatoes. Yummy.

      You recipe here sounds delicious and I think I will try it before the week is up. Thank you.

    3. Emiline

      March 3, 2008
      1:27 pm

      Looks fabulous!

      Please send me some quinoa from St. Louis. We don’t have any in Springfield.

    4. Karen

      March 3, 2008
      1:44 pm

      I think S will really like this, especially with the beans.

      Hi Lori – quinoa, squash, tomatoes and black beans sounds like a perfect combo of New World ingredients.

      Emiline – seriously? I’m popping a box in the mail to you ASAP!

    5. Catherine Wilkinson

      March 3, 2008
      4:31 pm

      Karen,
      Nice! I’m thinking that Smoky Lime Dressing will be lovely on some leftover chicken in the fridge that I’ve been pondering for a day or so now. Don’t have any quinoa in the house right now, but I do love to cook with it.
      Ok, shredded chicken tacos…cilantro, cabbage, Karen’s Smoky Lime Dressing. Yes, that will do nicely.

    6. Kevin

      March 3, 2008
      4:44 pm

      That salad looks good. I have recently been enjoying quinoa.

    7. michelle @ thursday night smackdown

      March 3, 2008
      6:42 pm

      i’ll come organize your spice cabinet! i love crap like that. i’m am the spice cabinet master!

      and that quinoa looks really good, too.

    8. Karen

      March 3, 2008
      7:12 pm

      Hey Catherine! I like the sound of that – “Karen’s Smoky Lime Dressing”.
      Maybe I can stick it in a bottle and sell it!

      Then I’ll come over for a taco.

      Kevin, I too have recently fallen in love with quinoa. It’s nice to have new kind of grain to eat in place of the usual white rice and pasta.

      Michelle! Are you the spice cabinet master? Maybe mistress, more like it. Yes, please come over. There is some quinoa salad in your future.

    9. Patricia Scarpin

      March 4, 2008
      8:02 am

      Karen, I have never tried quinoa (don’t ask my why, because frankly I don’t know!), but you had at lime dressing. :)

    10. valentina

      March 4, 2008
      8:27 pm

      Ohh, how I wish I could have tasted this! And I’ve never tried quinoa… It sure looks fabulous!

    11. AnticiPlate

      March 4, 2008
      8:59 pm

      I just love quinoa!!! great recipe.

    12. noble pig

      March 5, 2008
      8:48 am

      Well, I have never thought of making smokey quinoa. That sounds great and interesting. And I never knew there was a magazine called SAUCE. I need that!

    13. Deborah Dowd

      March 5, 2008
      7:07 pm

      I am a recent convert to quinoa, and we are using it at our house instead of rice since it has a stabilizing influence on my husband’s blood sugar (he is pre-diabetic). Your salad sounds like a delicious use of quinoa that would be great with grilled food. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find red quinoa anywhere near me!

    14. Dr. Eric Flescher (dreric1kansas@aol.com)

      March 7, 2008
      7:37 pm

      I just found out about quinoa about a month ago. Great and versatile. Found your blog and this recipe. I liked it . I also added some extra crunch to it by adding fresh corn from a corn cob.
      Dr. Eric Flescher, Olathe, KS(dreric1kansas@aol.com)
      The Traveling Gourmet
      http://cpmputergourmet.blogspot.com/

    15. Lore

      March 8, 2008
      1:39 pm

      O love the idea of combining beans and quinoa with lime! Looks great too! Yummy and fresh.

    16. Basil

      March 10, 2008
      7:22 am

      Hi Karen,
      My first visit to your blog today and I made & ate my version of this fab recipe within 2 hours of finding you -is that a record?! I used some chopped red onion, as I had no green, butter beans and parsley(all I had) and reduced the sugar by half. It was delicious!

    17. Dani Spies

      March 10, 2008
      3:39 pm

      Mmmmmm, this combination sounds delicious! I’ll have to give it a try:)!

    18. Tempered Woman

      March 11, 2008
      6:08 am

      I’ve been reticent to jump on the quinoa bandwagon. I’ve seen so many good recipes but… this is the first with black beans. You may have tipped the scales for me. ;-)

    19. Karen

      March 11, 2008
      11:51 am

      Patrica, I know what you mean. There’s something about the idea of lime that makes my mouth water. Maybe it’s that my favorite cuisines feature lime juice – Southeast Asian, Mexican, Indian….

      Valentina, if you can’t find quinoa you could use just about any other grain, or just toss the dressing with salad greens and black beans.

      Anticiplate, thanks, me too!

      Noble Pig, give it a try. Sauce is our local foodie news-magazine. We all need one!

      Deborah, you don’t need to use the red kind – any quinoa you find will be great here. Good luck…

      Dr. Eric, corn sounds like a delicious addition. I’ll give it a try.

      Thanks, Lore. It is pretty yummy.

      Basil, that must be a record! I just visited your blog and the results look wonderful. Thanks for visiting.

      Yes, Dani, do!

      Glad to hear it Tempered Woman! Maybe you’ll be converted.

    20. Lisa

      April 3, 2008
      3:33 pm

      Perfect timing. This dish looks simple and delicious AND I just happen to have the red quinoa from Local Harvest waiting in my pantry for a recipe. I made quinoa and veggie soup last night. Seems like I’m starting to see quinoa everywhere!

    21. Melissa

      May 21, 2009
      3:27 pm

      This is a new favorite in our house. I added orange bell pepper and avocado for some more color. It is great with or without the additions.

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