Cold Quinoa Salad - Recipe from a reader!

One of my friends and also a regular reader of the blog Charu sent me this message on FB - 

Try this quinoa recipe sometime. Its very easy/low-fat/nutritious. I learnt it from my roommate.
Cook quinoa just like rice in a rice cooker. This is like a cold salad, so keep it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Now cut lots of raw onions to add to the quinoa. And then add uncut cherry tomatoes (small ones, so dont cut) and some finely chopped green chillies. Then add lemon juice (i add quite a bit) and salt to this mix. Finally garnish with lots of mint and parsley. In my recipe, I sometimes skip the mint/parsley, and substitute them with our own cilantro.
Though this sounds too simple, its very tasty and flavorful. Great dinner/lunch/snack for summer. 

 And so I did! All I have to say now is Thank You Charu!

I ended up eating this back to back and made more...loved it. It was simple, easy and soooo satisfying to eat. Perfect for a summer lunch. I'm now planning to make this for many parties as a salad. And this uses all of 0 spoons of oil! NO OIL absolutely. How great is that!

So, are you guys ready to eat a super heatlhy and tasty quick stomach filling meal.

Here we go -

Wash and cook quinoa in a rice cooker. For 1 cup of quinoa, use 2 cups of water. Cool down the quinoa. You can actually place this in the fridge and cool it for a little while.

Add in some chopped onions.

Then, add some grated carrots. Charu had suggested to add cherry tomatoes. I did not have them at that time and the tomatoes I had were quite ripe and seedy. Somehow, I did not want to add them and just skipped it. You could also add some cooked peas - I'm sure that would add flavor and color as well!

Add some finely chopped green chillies.

Then, add some salt to taste and some freshly ground pepper.

Then, I dropped everything - walked to my backyard and picked some fresh mint  - oh the pleasure of growing your own mint! Now, I just wish I had a huge garden and can grow every imaginable fruit and veggie. Maybe...one day maybe..the day I win the lottery!

Add it to the quinoa. You can instead add cilantro or parsley or even some basil. I'm sure they all taste great!

And then about a tbsp of lemon juice or half a freshly squeezed lemon.

Mix well until nicely combined. And then move it right back into the fridge for a couple of hrs. The colder this gets, the tastier it gets! Might not be true - but I like to believe that.

Doesn't this look just gorgeous? But, I'm only almost done - just one more step.

Just before eating, throw in a few crunchy crisp peanuts to give an extra bite. That bite just completes the flavor circle.

As I write this, I want to make another bowl of this to eat. Its been a couple of days. Off I go...

Enjoy. Peace out!