When I was younger, summer was all about BBQ’s. My extended family would get together and we would have a huge family BBQ. It would be aunts, uncles, cousins and close family friends. One of those close family friends would always bring a rice salad. I loved it! It was the one thing that was different amongst the potato and macaroni salad that was there along with the other usual BBQ items.
Fast forward to today and my husband and I try to avoid rice. We like quinoa. I personally love white quinoa vs. the red quinoa. I find that it is milder in taste than the red variety. So what do you do when you are invited to a potluck BBQ? Try and make a rice salad like you grew up with but with quinoa instead of rice.
This salad is the kind of salad where you throw in whatever vegetables you have in the house. I had mini bell peppers, cucumbers and onions. I decided to grill the veggies to give the salad a bit of a smoky flavor. This is how I made the salad:
Prepare quinoa on stovetop.
Chop up whatever vegetables you would like to add to your salad and add them to a bowl with oil, salt and pepper.
Grill your vegetables so you get a nice char on them.
Once your quinoa is done, let it cool along with your vegetables.
I decided to add some cucumbers so I chopped up those.
Add a can of rinsed chick peas. I just let them hand out over my quinoa while I waited for everything to cool.
Once everything is cooled down, chop up the grilled vegetables and add them to the cooled down quinoa along with the cucumbers and chick peas.
Add oil, garlic powder, red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper.
Let chill in the fridge and then garnish with cilantro or feta cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 cup white quinoa
- 2 cups water
- any vegetable of your choice
- 3 tbs olive oil, divided
- 1 can chick peas, rinsed
- 3 tbs red wine vinegar
- 1.5 tsp garlic powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- Optional garnish - cilantro, parsley, or feta cheese
Instructions
Take the quinoa and follow the package instructions on how to cook it. Use water and not broth.
Take your vegetables and chop them up into large pieces so they are easier to grill.
Toss them in a bowl with 1 tbs olive and salt and pepper to taste.
Heat a grill to med-high heat and add your large pieces of vegetables.
Cook until they have a slight char.
Take them off the grill and set aside to cool.
Once they have cooled, chop them into smaller pieces.
Add them to cooked and cooled quinoa.
Add the chick peas, rest of the oil, red wine, garlic powder, and salt and pepper.
Give it a nice stir and chill in the fridge.
Garnish with cilantro, parsley or feta cheese.
Tell me what you really think