Moroccan Quinoa Salad with Mint and Raisins Recipe

There are dozen ways to make a wonderful Quinoa Salad, all exciting and all healthy and delicious, and all gluten-free. Quinoa is the grain I use most often in salads, even in Tabouleh

I am going with a decidedly Sephardi Quinoa Salad, with our beloved Moroccan Seasonings. It comes out incredibly fragrant.

You can very easily turn this quinoa salad: Scroll down for Main Course Variations!

I find quinoa the perfect grain and most calorie-effective: just one cup raw quinoa grows and grows, and cooks up to be more than 5 cups cooked and fluffed quinoa. Simple math informs me that measure for measure, quinoa – in quinoa salad and all quinoa dishes – is a nutrition bargain. Raw quinoa is 170 calories for 1/4 cup: 170 calories for almost 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa. Pretty amazing, no?  Thought so!

If you want quinoa to be your friend and do your bidding, here are two very simple secrets you need to know:

• Rinse it in cold running water in a strainer, until the water runs clear. Rinsing it rids it of the saponin farmers spray on it to keep bugs away. Some brands quinoa clearly list their quinoa as pre-rinsed. in this case skip the rinsing step.

• Quinoa cooks better and grows better if you start out with cold water

Ingredients

Salad

1 cup quinoa, thoroughly rinsed until the water runs clear

2 cups cold water

1 large carrot, finely shredded (use a food processor)

2/3 cup golden raisins

2/3 cup mint leaves, minced

1 bunch flat parsley, stems and leaves, minced

1 small red onion, minced

1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds (use seeds if you can't have nuts)

Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil

Juice and zest of 2 lemons

2-3 tablespoons orange flower water

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 -3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions