Seeded quinoa salad--Dinner Spinner

[Lellyj]

I love quinoa and we loved all the bits and pieces in this salad, it had a great texture.  (I cooked the quinoa a little longer than the recipe stated, because it didn't look done enough to me, but on comparing the method to the "minted quinoa salad", I wonder if the quinoa in this salad is meant to be a bit crunchier and more seedlike, as the minted salad doesn't stipulate pre-soaking and has a longer cooking time.)  I didn't have any tamari, so I used just kikoman soy, and I was a little disappointed as I thought this taste dominated the salad, and made it too salty. I find the taste of tamari a bit "lighter", so next time I will fiddle a little and perhaps use a little less soy or tamari in the dressing.  Will definitely make again, with tweaks.

BTW Judy, is there a way for us to add reviews to the list, or do we sit back and let you work your magic?  I noticed that Cookie mentioned in a post that she added a link herself, but thought that maybe she could do this because she is a moderator??

[judydawn]

Yes, only moderators can get into other people's postings Lelly - it's not a problem.  We will try and keep a good eye on any new reviews to add to the list.  If we miss any, I'm sure someone will remind us that we haven't added them  

[Delightful Den]

I made this for dinner the other night.  It was easy to make and very tasty.  The combination of the quinoa and seeds, nuts and vegies worked well together.  I didn't have any tamari so used soy sauce instead when I made the dressing. 

I've been eating the leftovers for lunch and when served with a sliced boiled egg on top it covers all of nutritional bases. a good blend of protein and carbs while also giving you a couple of serves of veg.

DW even liked this one and she can be hard to please.

[ElleG]

I made this for lunches. We added a small tin of tuna each day and ate it over for a few days. It will become a regular for our lunches - alternating with rice salads. Great recipe, we really enjoyed this.

[Moo2]

Is the 30mins soaking sufficient to get rid of the bad stuff? I am new to quinoa and have read Quirky Jo's info about it and she said its best to soak overnight. Not sure which is correct as I know nothing about it.

[Lellyj]

The packet instructions for the quinoa just says rinse well--so that's all been doing in the past few years since I discovered quinoa--so far so good!!

[ElleG]

I followed the instructions and soaked it for the 30 mins and it was really nice. I have only cooked quinoa once before, followed a recipe and roasted it - put it in the bin, couldn't eat it.

[Lellyj]

I should clarify, I rinsed before I cooked it--didn't soak at all in previous recipes, didn't even hear about soaking quinoa until I read this recipe, so I meant to say that I think 30 minutes soaking is probably enough, if they didn't even say to on the packet.  Hope that makes sense.

PS Elle, haven't tried it roasted!

[ElleG]

Lelly, it really tasted BAD!  I made Tenina's salad and was very surprised at how good it was 

[Moo2]

Thanks you guys. I will give it go soon.

[Tasty]

I have never tasted quinoa before. What does it taste like?

It sounds like something I would like to make but i'm not quite sure where i'd find stuff in shopping centre.

[Lellyj]

Quinoa reminds me a little bit of couscous.  It is fluffy and still a little chewy, not as firm as brown rice.  I love it!  You used to be only able to buy quinoa in health food shops, but now even our little independent supermarket has it in its health food section.  There are several colours, but they taste the same.  Uncooked it looks like millet, cooked it is like a round, flattish grain and you can see the "germ" where it would begin growing.

[Bonsai]

I can get quinoa in bulk buy shops ('weigh and pay'), and in my local supermarket in the 'organic' section. It is a small grain which doesn't have a really pronounced taste - sort of like finley ground burghul I suppose.

I made this the other night and only realised later that the 'quinoa' I thought I was using was actually amaranth! Still came out OK though.

[Moo2]

I made this tonight to mixed reviews. I actually really liked it but 2 out of three of my boys found the dressing too strong and that was after cutting back on the soy sauce as per Lellyj's recommendation. I also only put half the dressing on as I thought I could add more later if it needed it. So although I thought it was really interesting and tasty with all the different flavours and textures (loved the dried cranberries through it) I probably won't make it again for a family dinner.

[cookie1]

We had this for lunch today and loved it. I've never had quinoa before but do like freekah and similar things. This had lots of crunch with the seeds. The dressing was nice but I think next time I will try some other sort of dressing-not sure what though.
This will definitely be made again and again.