Quinoa Carrot Cucumber Salad

I was not a fan of salad before. Never in million years thought I will make salad at home. But when hubby and daughter started showing interest in Salads, I was left with no options, except making them at home. Still am far away from making all those leafy salads, which may be I will try sometime (when they demand, may be). Recently we have announced Wednesday as "No Rice Day!" at home. So every Wednesday I have started making some kind of salad. Last week made this Quinoa Carrot Cucumber Salad for lunch along with baked Fish. I must say it was good and got nice remarks from hubby and daughter.

Quinoa as you all know, is very healthy - rich in protein and high in dietary fibre, quinoa is digested slowly, making it a good low Glycemic index diet. If interested to know more about Nutrition Secrets, click here.

What are the ingredients needed?

Cooked Quinoa, 2 cups

Carrot(chopped), 1 cup

Cucumber(chopped), 1 cup,

Olive oil, 1 Tbs

Mint(chopped) 2 Tbs

Pepper powder, 1/2 Tsp

Salt to taste

Lemon Juice, from 1 lemon

How it is made?

1. Prepare salad dressing by mixing lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper powder and mint leaves.
2. Mix the cooked Quinoa, carrot and cucumber. Then Toss it with the salad dressing.
3. Garnish with a mint leaves and it is ready to serve.

Note:

• Quinoa has a bitter outer coating and has to be washed away before cooking. Most of the boxed quinoa, recommends a rinsing before cooking too. 
• Quinoa can be cooked the same way as rice.  I pressure cooked it. The cooked grain has a tiny curl and it will have slight bite to it.