Summer Quinoa Salad!
- Aggie Ranford
- Sep 5, 2024
- 2 min read
Summer goodness! 🌞 Try this vibrant, nutritious, and delicious Quinoa Salad! 🥗
Whilst best known as a whole grain, quinoa is actually a seed. There are over 120 varieties, with white/yellow quinoa having a milder flavour and red/black quinoa having a stronger, earthier flavour. Incredibly, it’s a complete protein, meaning that it contains all nine of the essential amino acids that our bodies cannot make on their own! One cup of cooked quinoa provides approximately 8g protein and 5g fiber! It’s also a great source of fibre, minerals (magnesium, manganese, & phosphorus), vitamins (B1 & B9), and is naturally gluten-free.
Ingredients (serves 2):
2 cups organic white quinoa
100g firm tofu
½ sweet gem lettuce
¼ cucumber
½ red onion
10 green olives
6 plum tomatoes
1 flat peach
½ lemon
1tsp paprika
Salt & pepper
3tbsp olive oil
2tbsp red wine vinegar
35g vegan feta
2 sprigs mint
Instructions:
Rinse the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer for at least 30 seconds and drain well. This will remove the bitter taste from its naturally occurring pesticides
Combine two cups of quinoa to four cups of water and a pinch of salt in a saucepan. Bring to boil over a medium heat, then reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook until the quinoa has absorbed all of the water (~15 mins). You may notice a small white tail (the nutritious germ) unfold when it’s fully cooked
Meanwhile, cut the tofu into small cubes. Add a splash of olive oil to a frying pan and cook the tofu over a medium heat until golden brown on all sides. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and paprika
Take the saucepan containing the quinoa off the heat and add the lid to let it steam for 5 minutes
Wash and slice your salad (lettuce, cucumber, red onion, olives, tomatoes, and peach)
Drain the cooked quinoa in a strainer and return to the saucepan to dry out further
In a separate bowl, splash in the olive oil and red wine vinegar, and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon. Add the paprika, salt, and pepper. Pour this dressing over the quinoa and fluff it with a fork
Gently mix in the fresh salad, being careful not to bruise the peach
Serve cool with feta and torn mint leaves
Eat slowly and intentionally to appreciate the combination of tastes! 💛
Comments