Food Matters Project: Quinoa Tabbouleh

This week's challenge for the Food Matters Project was chosen by Sara of Simply Whole Kitchen: Quinoa Tabbouleh.

Mark Bittman writes that tabbouleh is usually made from bulgur wheat and warns against turning this into a grain salad; tabbouleh should be an herb and vegetable heavy dish. Done.

Here's our hostess's take on the recipe: Simply Whole Kitchen's tabbouleh...and here's what the rest of the gang did. Click here and look in the comments section.

What I used...

cooked organic tricolor quinoa (1 C uncooked)

2 Persian cucumbers

3 kumato brown tomatoes

2 C fresh chopped Italian parsley
1/2 C fresh chopped mint
2 fresh chopped scallions
olive oil

freshly ground pink Himalaya salt

freshly ground rainbow peppercorns
juice from 1 yuzu
1/4 C chopped pecans

What I did...

I cooked the quinoa according to the package directions, then let it cool. Then I added the cucumbers, tomatoes, and fresh herbs. And tossed it with the remaining ingredients till it was glossy. I served it on a fresh chard leaf, garnished with fresh mint sprigs.

A few kitchen notes...
Quinoa is a crunchy, high-protein gran from South America. The Incas held the crop to be sacred, referring to quinoa as chisaya mama or 'mother of all grains'. During the European conquest of South America, the Spanish colonists scorned quinoa as 'food for Indians'; the conquistadores actually forbade quinoa cultivation for a time and the Incas were forced to cultivate wheat in its place.

Yuzu is an East Asian sour citrus fruit, looking a bit like a small, bumpy grapefruit. I happened across from bottled yuzu juice in an Asian market and decided to use it instead of lemon juice.