Shrimps Quinoa Salad

After reading several blog posts from Tigerfish-Teczcape about quinoa, and said several times this is something I wanted to try, I finally bought the quinoa and made my first quinoa dish.  Oh yeah, it took me a long time but better late than never right?  I made this after a week trip to San Francisco and San Jose areas and back home with no mood to cook.  Haha... Who can blame me as I was so spoil with choices and easy excess to authentic Chinese food while in SF and SJ.  Now back home and back to cooking!

My shrimps quinoa salad and I hope you like it.  I wanted a flavorful quinoa so I cooked it in chicken stock.  Added frozen peas and carrots because I wanted more veggies (cook it with the quinoa).  After it is done,  I added fresh romaine lettuce, sunflower seeds, raisins and pan-fried spiced shrimps and mixed all together.  Later, I regretted that I didn't add a can of black beans into the mix.  So, feel free to add some beans (whatever bean you like).  This makes a great picnic food too as it's good eaten at room-temperature. 

If you are still thinking of what to make for 4th of July, this can be a great healthy recipe for you!

Ingredients:

10 shrimps, shelled and season it with spices of your choice (I used Penzey's Spices Arizona Dreaming)
1 cup organic quinoa 
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots
Few romaine lettuce leaves, thinly sliced
1/4 cup raisins
3 Tbsp. sunflower seeds

Method:

Rinse quinoa under running water until it is clear.  Boil the chicken stock and when boiling add in the washed quinoa and frozen peas and carrots, turn the heat to low, cover and let it simmer for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes if it is still watery, uncover and let it simmer until dry.  Stir the quinoa and let it cool.

In the meantime, washed and cut the lettuce.  Set aside.  In a non-stick pan, add a little peanut/coconut oil and pan-fry the shrimps on both sides until cooked through.  I cut each shrimp into three pieces then, or you can leave it whole.

In a big glass bowl, add in the quinoa with peas and carrots.  Add in the cooked shrimps, lettuce, raisins and sunflower seeds.  Mix well.  You can add a little black pepper if you like.  No additional salt needed as the quinoa absorbed the flavor of the chicken stock.