Quinoa tabbouleh

A very long time ago, when I was a student, I dated a boy from Iraq who took me to all sorts of Middle Eastern restaurants. It was there that I developed my lifelong love of tabbouleh. Recently, I had the urge for some, but didn't have any bulghur wheat, which is supposed to be the star ingredient. Happily, I had quinoa, and the results tasted so much better than the bulghur version that I've made it with quinoa ever since. (There are those who say--rightly--that we shouldn't eat so much quinoa, because an unintended consequence of its popularity in the West is that it's now too pricey for many Bolivians to eat. One thing we can do is to seek out American-grown quinoa. Another is to consume the Bolivian-grown stuff in moderation.)

Ingredients

1/2 cup quinoa (this doesn't look like a lot, but cooking it makes it expand to four times its size)

1/8 cup lemon juice (you can get this out of lemons, or use one of those lemon-shaped plastic squeezy bottles, I won't tell)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 a teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

1 green onion, sliced very thinly (substitute a handful of chives if you don't like green onions)

1/2 cup parsley, chopped very finely (using a pair of scissors can speed this up)

1 English cucumber, peeled and cut in half lengthwise with the seed scooped out, cut into small cubes

1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes

Boil the quinoa in a large pot of boiling water over high heat for 15 minutes, or until the grains have gone translucent around the edges. Drain and allow to cool.

Mix the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

Mix the cooled quinoa with the green onions, parsley, cucumber and tomatoes in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix thoroughly. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for two hours, then serve.

Serves 2-3 as a main course, 4 as a side dish.

Optional extras: you can put pretty much any raw vegetable you like into this. Finely chopped carrots, radishes, or peppers would all be good.