Quinoa Black Bean Tacos

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 Tbsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 cups cooked black beans*
• 1 recipe pico de gallo
• 1 medium avocado
• 16 small corn tortillas
• 1/4 bunch cilantro

Directions

1. Rinse the quinoa thoroughly in a wire mesh sieve to get rid of any bitterness. No sieve handy? Place the quinoa in a bowl of water, swirl it around, then slowly pour away the liquid. Do that again until the water looks mostly clear.
2. Transfer the clean quinoa to a medium pot. Add the minced garlic clove, salt, chili powder, cumin, oregano, smoked paprika, and 1.5 cups of water, then stir everything together. Cover the pot, set it over high heat, and bring the mixture to a boil. Once it is boiling, reduce the heat to low and cook gently for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat after 15 minutes and leave the covered pot alone for another 10 minutes.
3. As the quinoa cooks, make the pico de gallo. Rinse the black beans in a colander, then let them drain so they are not carrying extra water into the filling.
4. Once the quinoa is done, take off the lid and loosen it with a fork. Stir in the drained black beans until evenly mixed.
5. Warm the tortillas in a skillet over medium heat, toasting them lightly until both sides are barely golden while the tortillas still bend easily. For each taco, spoon about 1/4 cup of the quinoa and black bean filling onto a tortilla. Top with about 1-2 tablespoons of pico de gallo, 1 slice of avocado, and a few sprigs of cilantro, then fold it up and eat.