If you follow my Instagram you'd know I am sucker for healthy meals. But what you may not be aware of is I loathe cooking - its never been my forte. The dilemma is I don't even prefer ready-to-eat meals or eating out that much. I feel horrible and guilty if I eat too much processed or unhealthy meals. So sometimes I have no option but to fix myself a meal when I don't have help.
A salad is an easy fix and if you add the right ingredients it can be quite filling and delicious too. A red quinoa salad is a great option as it is wonderfully versatile. It's perfect for lunches, it can make a really good starter or can be a great healthy and filling dinner.
Here's my quick quinoa fix for lunch made from organic quinoa, fresh tomatoes, cucumber and sesame - flax seed - ginger - olive oil dressing. The secret ingredient that instantly makes this vegan quinoa salad super yummy is a generous portion of toasted nuts. Since I wanted a more filling meal I also prepared some moong (soaked it for an hour and then boiled it) and spinach stir fried with olive oil and ginger.
It's a savoury healthy guilt-free indulgence that everyone will love!
I N G R E D I E N T S
1 cup red quinoa (I use organic quinoa)
1 large tomato diced
2 diced cucumbers (organic is always better)
1 small bowl of nuts - mix of pine nuts, almonds and walnuts
2-inch sized ginger finely chopped
3 spoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds and flax seeds each
Half orange and half lemon
Rock salt and black pepper as per taste
D I R E C T I O N S
How to prepare quinoa
After a few trials and errors and disasters i finally got the hang of cooking the perfect quinoa. The key to cooking quinoa is to soak it for about 15 minutes, drain the water and then put it in a pan for boiling. Soaking it in warm water not only washes off the dirt from the quinoa seeds but also preps it well for boiling. Add some olive oil so it doesn't stick. Typically the water quinoa ratio required is 2:1 - for one cup of quinoa 2 cups of water
Dressing
- Add a few drops of olive oil and once hot add finely chopped ginger. Saute until it turns golden brown. Add flax seeds and sesame seeds and stir for 30 seconds. In a separate bowl squeeze half of fresh orange and fresh lemon, add extra virgin olive oil and the toasted seeds and mix it well.
- Dry roast pine nuts, almonds and walnuts separately until they turn golden brown.
Salad
Toss together all ingredients for the salad. Add the seed and olive oil dressing, salt and black pepper and mix well. Top it with the toasted nuts.
D I R E C T I O N S
How to prepare quinoa
After a few trials and errors and disasters i finally got the hang of cooking the perfect quinoa. The key to cooking quinoa is to soak it for about 15 minutes, drain the water and then put it in a pan for boiling. Soaking it in warm water not only washes off the dirt from the quinoa seeds but also preps it well for boiling. Add some olive oil so it doesn't stick. Typically the water quinoa ratio required is 2:1 - for one cup of quinoa 2 cups of water
Dressing
- Add a few drops of olive oil and once hot add finely chopped ginger. Saute until it turns golden brown. Add flax seeds and sesame seeds and stir for 30 seconds. In a separate bowl squeeze half of fresh orange and fresh lemon, add extra virgin olive oil and the toasted seeds and mix it well.
- Dry roast pine nuts, almonds and walnuts separately until they turn golden brown.
Salad
Toss together all ingredients for the salad. Add the seed and olive oil dressing, salt and black pepper and mix well. Top it with the toasted nuts.
Looks like a very tasty recipe :)
ReplyDeleteI love the layout of your blog. Goes with the name :)
looks like an interesting recipe...
ReplyDeletehealthy and yummy...!
ReplyDeleteLooks so delicious and healthy!
ReplyDeletePrerna
http://www.vivalahighstreet.com
Sounds great. Interesting idea to heat the oil for the salad and saute ginger.
ReplyDelete