Delicious Tabouli Salad

This is one of my go-to salads because it is tasty, inexpensive, and can be eaten on it's own or will happily complement other dishes well. This salad is not only delicious, it is packed with protein from the quinoa and beautifully colourful. Not to mention, it is perfect for a summer BBQ!

Step 1: Ingredients & Tools

Ingredients (for 4-6 servings)

• 1 cup quinoa (uncooked)
• 2 bunches of parsley (chopped)
• 1 lemon (zested)
• 1 tomato (diced)
• 1 onion (diced)
• 2 cloves of garlic (less if you prefer)
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• Salt & pepper
• Water

Tools

• Cutting board
• Sharp knife
• Small grater or zester
• Measuring cup
• Saucepan (for cooking quinoa)
• Use of a stove
• Spoon
• Salad bowl

Step 2: Cooking the Quinoa

To cook your quinoa, I suggest you follow your individual package suggestions. The basic method is 2 parts water, 1 part quinoa cooked for about 15-20 minutes. To cook 1 cup of quinoa I did the following:

• Boil 2 cups of water in a saucepan on the stove
• Once boiling, add uncooked quinoa and allow the water to come back to a boil
• Turn down the heat to a medium-low heat and cook uncovered for 15-20 minutes until tender.

Tip:Cooked quinoa usually shows it's tender and ready when there are small little curved pieces (looking like tiny worms, for lack of a better word!) coming off the quinoa.

Step 3: Making the Tabouli Salad

While your quinoa is cooking you can prepare the remainder of the ingredients

• Chop your parsley finely and add to salad bowl (if not done already)
• Wash lemon, zest with small grater and add to bowl. Chop lemon in half and squeeze out the juice of half a lemon into the bowl (watch out for seeds!)
• Grate or finely dice garlic. Add to bowl.
• Add diced onion finely (check out how to do this easily here!)
• Add diced tomato
• Add olive oil, spices and salt and pepper
• Remove quinoa from the stovetop and add directly in the bowl.
• Mix well and serve!

Enjoy!

Play around with it!

You can always add more lemon, paprika, cumin, or salt & pepper for flavour. Also chickpeas is a great substitute for quinoa.