For the Love of Pomegranates – Quinoa Fresh Salad

I LOVE pomegranates! I grew up with pomegranate trees in our neighborhood and at my Savta’s (grandma) garden and I LOVED watching the fruit getting redder, bigger and heavier until it was time to pick it from the tree. As children we spent a lot of time playing outside and some of my happiest most memorable moments were taking a break from playing and picking a ripe pomegranate, opening it and eating it straight from the tree.

When I find pomegranates in the markets nowadays it makes me happy all over again. Besides eating them straight up, I’m glad finding excuses to use them in many yummy ways. Here is an awesome looking, tasty and healthy dish you can actually feel good about yourself as you crunch away.

You will need:

1 cup Quinoa

1 medium Purple Onion

1 cup Pomegranate seeds

1 cup chopped Fresh Cilantro

½ cup toasted Slivered Almonds

3 tbsp. Olive Oil

1 tsp. Honey

¼ tsp. All Spice

¼ tsp. White Pepper

¼ tsp. Black Pepper

1 tsp. Salt

A few words about Quinoa:

Quinoa is such an AWESOME food! With high nutritive value and an overall nutrient richness, I feel pretty healthy and good about myself combining it on my menu. Top that with delicious flavor and relatively easy preparation, and there you have it, another winner in the kitchen.
Speaking about preparation, to achieve a yummy and fluffy quinoa, there are just a few tips you’ll have to keep in mind:

1. “You got to Rinse it before you Fix it” 🙂 – Quinoa has a natural coating that tastes bitter or soapy, so it is a good idea to get rid of this coating before cooking it. Rinsing the quinoa grains in cold water for two minutes will do the trick.
2. Fluffiness Guaranteed- Dry and slightly toast the quinoa before adding the liquid.
3. Water Ratio- For every 1 cup of dry quinoa, I use 1 and ½ cups of water (or liquid).

Let’s get to work:

Start by rinsing the quinoa well! I place the quinoa in cheesecloth over a strainer and run cold water over it while rubbing the little grains against each other using my hands.
It takes about two minutes of rinsing and rubbing to get rid of the quinoa’s bitter coating.
Notice the foamy looking water turn into clear water at the end of the rinsing process.
The best part of having the quinoa in cheesecloth is that I can easily squeeze out the water just by twisting the cloth over it. I love this trick!
Next continue to dry the quinoa by toasting it in the pot over medium-high heat, add ONE tablespoon of olive oil and use a wooden soon to move the quinoa around the pot until it smells a little toasty …about couple of minutes. From here on the preparation is very similar to rice making.

Time to add the flavor!

Add spices to the quinoa and mix around.
Add boiling water. Be careful the pot and water are super hot!

The ratio is 1½ cups of liquid to 1 cup of dry quinoa. Add the salt. Mix a little and then cover the pot and cook over low heat for about 25 minutes. When the quinoa is ready make sure all liquid evaporated and use a fork to fluff it.

While the quinoa is cooking for 25 minutes, I use this time to get the cilantro, pomegranate and almonds ready:
Wash the fresh cilantro and chop it finely. I LOVE cilantro so I add about a cup, but I am well aware of the fact that cilantro (especially fresh) is pretty much a “love it or hate it” type of green. If you love it – go for it obviously, but if you don’t- don’t let it be a ‘deal breaker’; you can most definitely substitute the cilantro for any other type of green you like (parsley will be yum).

Pomegranates are so great! Beautiful, tasty, crunchy, juicy and healthy …what else can you ask for? O.k. maybe an easier way to get the seeds out… Is that too greedy? 🙂 Get the pomegranate seeds out in any method you prefer.
We need one cup of pomegranate seeds.

To toast the slivered almonds, place them in a small pan over medium heat and move the pan every so often to make sure the almonds are tossed and get evenly toasted.
When they start to change their color and you can smell the toasty aroma – you will know they are ready.

The quinoa is ready, but we are going to “kick it another notch” 🙂 and elevate the flavor.
Roughly chop the purple onion.
Add the chopped onion to a hot pan and sauté with 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat until the onion pieces caramelize and get some nice color.
Add the cooked quinoa and move it around to sauté for a just minute or two.
Turn the heat off.

Now add the chopped cilantro, pomegranate seeds and toasted almonds.
The colors are so pretty and just wait until you try this crazy texture!
Mix it gently together.
Move to a serving dish and add a teaspoon of honey on top.
Looks AMAZING! I just love it when beauty, flavor and crunch collide!

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Quick Recipe:

Quinoa Pomegranate Fresh Salad-

Rinse the Quinoa and dry it.

Toast the Quinoa with 1 tbsp. Olive Oil in a pot over medium-high heat.

Add All Spice, White Pepper and Black Pepper and mix.

Add boiling Water and Salt.

Cover and cook for 25 minutes on low heat.

Fluff with a fork.

Roughly chop Purple Onion.

Sauté Purple Onion in Olive Oil over high heat until it gets a little caramelized.

Add cooked Quinoa and mix for another minute.

Turn off heat and Add chopped fresh Cilantro, Pomegranate seeds, and toasted slivered Almonds.

Mix gently.

Move to a serving dish and drizzle with a little honey.