Spring Quinoa Salad

Spring Quinoa Salad – recipe by Marianne Harold.

This is one of my favourite recipes as it’s light but substantial and can be a meal in itself.  I roast the broccoli which makes it slightly crispy, but the asparagus is lightly steamed and the salad is topped off with dry roasted or activated almonds.  All this creates a salad with variety of delicious textures which is then dressed with a creamy nut dressing.

Ingredients

300 grams of quinoa, soaked for 4 hours and rinsed thoroughly.

2 medium heads of broccoli (or broccolini) cut into florets

2 bunches of fresh Australian asparagus

1 tablespoon of toasted organic sesame seeds or nigella seeds

1 tablespoon of zaatar (optional)

1/4 cup of finely chopped dry roasted or activated almonds

1/2 cup of fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

Himalayan salt, pepper

Dressing:

2 heaped tablespoons of almond butter

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tablespoon of coconut aminos (or replace this with 1/2 tablespoon of tamari + 1/2 tablespoon of honey)

approx. 25 mls of water

1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon of mirin (rice wine vinegar)

Himalayan salt

Method

  • Turn on oven to 165deg. C.
  • Place broccoli on a baking tray and drizzle with sesame oil and a little salt.
  • Roast for approximately 10-15 minutes – this will depend on your oven so you need to check it regularly.  You want it to just brown and go a little crispy on the heads.
  • Rinse the quinoa and place in a saucepan, and just cover with water.  Bring the water to the boil, then turn down heat to low and cover saucepan with lid.
  • Cook on a low temperature for approximately 10 minutes until all the water has been absorbed.
  • To make the dressing, whisk together all the ingredients until well combined.  The texture should be quite creamy.
  • Meanwhile, cut asparagus spears into thirds with a diagonal cut and steam for 5 minutes.
  • When the quinoa is cooked place in salad bowl and mix through the sesame oil and zaatar.  Then add the vegetables.  When this mixture has cooled slightly stir through the dressing and then top with coriander, almonds and toasted sesame or nigella seeds.