Quinoa + Hemp Heart Tabbouleh from The simple veganista

Quinoa + Hemp Heart Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh is a popular traditional Middle Eastern dish. The ingredients remain the same but vary in ratio depending on the region. It traditionally uses bulgar wheat as the grain of choice but here we are using gluten free quinoa. I also added some hemp hearts as they are a perfect accompaniment and add extra nutrients, like all the very important omegas. What I really love about the quinoa and hemp hearts is that they are both complete proteins making this a well-balanced dish. If your new to hemp seeds and oil, following is a great article on just how wonderful and beneficial these seeds and oil is for your health:Hemp Seed - The Most Nutritionally Complete Food Source in the World

I have been wanting to make this for some time now and am so glad I finally did. It was light, fresh and delicious! The ingredient list is simple and comes together creating pleasure for all your senses...visually, texturally and flavor wise. Not to mention the smell is delicious too. The mint and parsley together are a winning combination leaving a fresh, clean taste bite after bite. The cucumber is refreshing, the tomatoes add juiciness and the lemon adds a nice light zestiness. After making this I have to admit that I sat and the whole thing...of course I only made half of the recipe you see here which is why I doubled this recipe so you can have some for later, or share if you like. This is clean eating and nutrient dense. For those of you who count calories, when you learn to eat clean like this you don't need to count calories...eat as much as you like and count your blessing instead! 

Just a note of what's to come. I've been going through a filter phase on my photography as you will see directly above and below. I finally saved a few pennies and purchased my first filter pack from the VSCO Film to enhance my Lightroom 4 editing software. I sure didn't like it at first and thought maybe I wasted my money, but I am slowly learning how to use it. I hope you enjoy the photography and find it doesn't take away from the appeal of the food, which is why I will combine the different styles until I'm confident with my filter choices (the intro picture is unfiltered). I enjoy the creativity and versatility it offers...it's exciting. I'm easily amused you know. :)

So enough about that, let's get to the good stuff!

It's just pure and simple...

Quinoa + Hemp Heart Tabbouleh 

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa (I used tri-color)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 bunch parsley (about 2 cups lightly packed), stems removed
• 1 small bunch mint (about 1 cup lightly packed), stems removed
• 1 english cucumber (skin on), diced
• 1 small red onion, diced or 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cup cherry/grape tomatoes, halved or quartered depending on size
• 1/4 cup hemp hearts (shelled hemp seeds)
• drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil 
• juice of 2 large lemons
• mineral salt & cracked pepper to taste

Rinse your quinoa in a fine mesh stainer to remove any dust (sometimes I do this, sometimes I don't). In a medium size pot, bring water, quinoa and garlic powder to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, remove cover and let set for 10 - 15 minutes, fluff with fork.

In the meantime, finely chop your parsley and mint. Dice your cucumber, tomato and onion.

Once quinoa is ready, add in the parsley, mint, cucumber, onion, tomatoes, hemp hearts, drizzle of olive oil and the juice of your lemons, salt & pepper to taste, gently mix together.

Serve with a few whole mint and/or parsley leaves and lemon wedges.

Serves three generously.

So clean & healthy...any day is a good day for tabbouleh!

Enjoy!