Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

• 8 3/4 ozquinoa, rinsed well in a fine strainer
• 2 1/8 cupswater
• 1/4 cupolive oil
• 1lemon, juiced
• 1cucumber, seeded and diced
• 8 3/4 ozcherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2red onion, finely diced
• 1 ozfresh parsley, chopped
• 1/2 ozfresh mint, chopped
• 3/4 tspsea salt
• 1/4 tspblack pepper

Method

1. 1

   Put the quinoa in a fine strainer and run cold water through it for a good minute, rubbing the grains with your fingers. The coating it carries is genuinely bitter and rinsing is the only way it comes off.

2. 2

   Dry the pan, tip the drained quinoa in and toast it over medium heat for two minutes until it smells nutty and stops steaming. Add the water and a pinch of the salt, bring to a boil, cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes.

3. 3

   Take it off the heat and leave it covered for five minutes, then fluff with a fork and spread it out over a baking sheet. Cooling in a heap steams it into a solid block.

4. 4

   While the quinoa cools, seed and dice the cucumber, quarter the cherry tomatoes, and dice the red bell pepper and red onion small.

5. 5

   Whisk the olive oil, the lemon juice, the rest of the salt and the black pepper together. Tip the cooled quinoa and the vegetables into a large bowl, pour over the dressing, and fold through the parsley and mint. Taste for lemon — it usually wants more.