Golden Sunshine Quinoa Salad

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a grain originally planted by the Incas who held the crop as sacred.  It has an extremely high protein content and a good source of fiber as well so it's very good for you.  It goes wonderful in salads as you will see from my golden sunshine salad which I got from Ingrid Hoffmann. This recipe is actually Bolivian. 

Golden Sunshine Quinoa Salad

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 cups quinoa
2 1/2 cups chicken broth, homemade or canned low-sodium broth
4 scallions, light and white green part only, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped golden raisins (I used regular)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 cup fresh orange juice from 2 oranges
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cucumber, peeled, halved, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Cook the quinoa according to the package directions.  When done fluff with a fork and set aside to cool.

Place the cooled quinoa in a large bowl. Add the scallions, raisins, rice vinegar, orange juice and zest, olive oil, cumin, cucumber and parsley and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, then serve.


Enjoy!