Quick Quinoa salad

Quinoa is the king of grains, providing us with all three amino acids, therefore a complete protein. This little grain is interesting and unusual when you first cook with it, with this quick recipe you can start incorporating quinoa into your diet and benefiting from this little superfood’s nutrition. You can cook off a bulk amount of quinoa and use it warm, or cold, in salads, as a wrap or sandwich filler, make burgers from it or puff it for a crispy porridge topper. For this recipe, we are making a salad.

Recipe Details

Serves: 2–4
Prep Time: 3 mins
Cook Time: 17 mins
Ready In: 20 mins
Difficulty: Easy

Meal prep storage

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Ingredients

150g quinoa, rinsed
400ml water
1/4 tsp salt (plus extra for seasoning)
75g smoked tofu, cubed
150g raw vegetables, finely chopped (approx. 2 handfuls of cucumber, bell pepper, and carrot)
100g cherry tomatoes, chopped (approx. 1 handful)
3 tbsp fresh herbs, finely chopped (dill, parsley, coriander, mint)
--- Lemon & Honey Dressing ---
3 tbsp olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Method

In a saucepan place the quinoa, water and pinch of salt, put on the lid and heat until gently boiling, then turn it down to a low heat. Let the quinoa simmer away for around 15 minutes or until the water has soaked up and the quinoa tail is showing. I usually remove it from the heat in the last 5 minutes of cooking, if you do this do not remove the lid, allow the steam and heat to stay inside.

While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the vegetables. Chop the veggies up into small squares and add to a salad bowl with the tomatoes and herbs. Take the tofu and crumble it over the veggies.

In a separate bowl mix up the salad dressing, olive oil, lemon juice and honey, season with salt, pepper and taste. Adjust as needed and pour over the veggies.

Once the quinoa is cooked you have two options, eat warm or cool. For warm, add it directly to the veggies. For cool, transfer it into a sieve and run cold water over it until it's cooled down, allowing it to drain for a few minutes, I sometimes squeeze the quinoa to drain out the extra water, then add it to the veggies and mix together. It’s ready to serve, enjoy!