Quinoa Tabbouleh — Suprisiningly Tasty, Filling, and Super-Healthy!

So as the multiple categories for this post indicate, this dish can be consumed as an appetizer, snack or main course.  Quinoa, according to the box I purchased, is a super-grain that was widely consumed in the Incan empire.  According to Wikipedia, "Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete foodstuff" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa).  So why not make this fantastic dish AND give the gift of "a balanced set of essential amino acids" to those who are lucky enough to eat it?

I got this recipe from the Vegetarian Times, and thankfully you can find it online:  http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/recipe_details.cfm?recipe_id=9866. 

The variations to the recipe that I made:  I doubled the recipe, used a little extra garlic, and I used 1/2 the recommended fresh lemon juice.  The reason I used only half the lemon juice is that I accidently spilled the juice from one of the lemons I juiced, and I only had one lemon more so I could only get a little over 1/4 cup of fresh juice.  BUT I am happy that that was the case, because I think any more lemon juice would have made it a little too lemony. 

I also made the quinoa in a rice cooker, which I thought was a great time-saver while I was the chopping the parsley, etc.

The next time I made it, I think I will also increase the amount of chopped parsley to the recipe to make it a little more "tabbouleh"-like, but I think that is just up to you and what you want to use the recipe for.  If you use it for a main dish, I would recommend increasing the amount of parsley, but if you use it as part of a Middle Eastern platter or the like, you probably don’t need to increase the amount of parsley because there will already be a lot of flavors in the dish. 

I would really recommend trying it with the Roasted Red Pepper and Bean Dip (http://madhuknitsandcooks.typepad.com/madhu_knits_and_cooks/2006/09/roasted_red_pep.html ) because the combination of the warm quinoa tabbouleh and the cool dip make it not only a fun heat contrast, but the flavors go really well together as well.

One final tip — make sure you fluff that quinoa once it is done cooking!  It really makes a big difference.