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I need to start this post by talking about quinoa preparation.  Right after I cooked this dish, my mom asked if I rinsed my quinoa.  Um, no.  I didn’t.  She says that all of her recipes and containers of quinoa say that your should rinse your quinoa prior to cooking.  News to me.  But, as it turns out, she is half right.  In short, the initial reason for rinsing quinoa has gone out the window due to its increasing popularity and main stream sales.  In other words, the folks that put the quinoa on your shelves are rinsing it for you! How nice.  Of course, I bought my quinoa from the Whole Paycheck Foods bulk bins ($2.99 on sale – holla!).  It said nothing about whether or not the quinoa was pre-rinsed.

I found a great explanation about the rinsing situation at www.incaorganics.com.  This is what they say:

All quinoa has a bitter-tasting coating on each seed that protects it from being eaten by birds in the field. This is called saponin and must be removed before it is cooked and eaten. When quinoa was first imported to this country from South America in the 1980′s, the saponin was not cleaned off well and it was important to wash it before cooking. Today the cleaning is more thorough either by polishing or pre-washing so that the consumer does not have to do it although many people wash it just to be sure.

There you have it.

I adapted this recipe from Self’s recipe found here.  In the pictures posted, the recipe was doubled.  And … This dish is gluten-free.

Ingredients

- 1 cup of cooked quinoa

- 2/3 cup shelled and cooked edamame

- 1/2 cup of chopped cucumber

- 2 tsp of sesame oil

- 1 tsp of rice wine vinegar

- 1 tsp of low sodium soy sauce (gluten-free)

- 1/2 tsp of fresh grated ginger

- 1/4 tsp of garlic salt

Directions

1.  Rinse your quinoa

2.  Combine the quinoa, cucumber, and edamame

3.  In a separate bowl, whisk together sesame oil, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic salt

4. toss the quinoa mixture with the dressing and serve!