Mango and Black Bean Quinoa

This is a super delicious and light meal and its one of my favorite ways to enjoy quinoa as the base for a salad. With summer just around the corner the markets have been full of fresh fruits and vegetable, I have been experimenting with using fruits in my salads and my current favorite, the mango, had to make an appearance in a quinoa salad. I have also been adding beans to my salads. The mango and black bean quinoa salad worked out well. The sweet and cool mango tempered the heat of the jalapeños and the beans rounded the salad out with a nice creaminess. The quinoa salad was good when it was still warm from cooking the quinoa and the leftovers were good straight out of the fridge.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon cumin
 pinch of salt

1 large mango (stoned, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces)
1 cup black beans (rinsed)
1 jalapeño pepper (chopped)
1 onion (sliced)
1 tomato, cubed
1 handful cilantro (chopped)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Cook the quinoa with the water, salt and cumin.  Let it come to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer and cook for about 15 minutes till the water has evaporated.
Mix the quinoa, mango, black beans, jalapeño, onion, tomato and cilantro in a bowl.
Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in another bowl.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to coat.
meal.