Quinoa Salad 1

Quinoa Salad 1

As most vegeterians will already know, quinoa is one of the most complete and readily absorbed vegetable protein sources. I use it ever more often instead of rice or bulgur, and its slight crunch and nutty taste make it very addictive.  Here I use it to make a salad that looks and tastes beautiful, and easily makes into my top five favourite packed lunches, as it will give an amazing diversity of micronutrients as well as a good balance of macronutrients. The ingredient list is a bit longer than usual, but it should still be doable in 30 minutes, as long as your kitchen is tidy and your knifes sharpened.

Alternative versions: Coming soon

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients Budget: £ 1.9 – 2.85 (per serving)

Calories per serving: 485

5-a-day per serving: 4

Macronutrients (per serving, in grams):

Carbohydrate (sugars): 44 (15)   Protein: 14   Fat (saturates): 27 (4)

INGREDIENTS (serves 4):

White Quinoa (200g)

Sesame seeds (15g)

Pistachio nuts (25g)

1 small red onion

5 celery stalks

1 ripe Papaya (or mango)

1 ripe Avocado

3 Spring onions (washed and trimmed)

100g mange-tout beans

100g de-frozen petit pois

flat-leaf parsley (30g)

Coriander (15g)

1 organic lemon

Sunflower oil (30ml)

Toasted sesame oil (15ml)

A little freshly ground pepper, and 3 generous pinches of fine sea salt

PREPARATION:

1) Put 1 litre of water into a small saucepan, and heat it at the maximum setting. Set a small nonstick frying pan over medium heat, and as soon as it is warm, add the sesame seeds and pistachios.

2) While they are toasting rinse the quinoa in a thin mesh sieve with running water for about a minute or so. Stir occasionally until the sesame seeds have coloured slightly. Pour the toasted seeds and pistachios into a small bowl.

3)  Add 15 ml (1 tablespoon) of sunflower oil to the small nonstick fying pan and set on medium heat. Once the water in the saucepan is boiling, add the quinoa, and cook for 9-10 minutes.While it cooks, chop up the spring onion, and fry them while the quinoa is cooking, stirring occasionally.

4)When the quinoa is cooked, add the mangetout beans to the frying pan, and keep stirring occasionally. Drain the water from the quinoa by pouring it into a sieve, and rinse it with running water to cool it down. Leave it in the sieve so the excess water can seep out.

5) Peel and cut the red onion into very thin slices. Then chop up the celery slices, the flat-leaf parsley and the coriander. Your mangetout beans and spring onions should now be coloured, so turn the heat off under them. Peel the papaya and the avocado and cut them into small cubes.

6) Pour the drained quinoa into a large salad bowl, add all the ingredients. Then grate the zest and squeeze the juice of the lemon over the bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil and 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil, as well as the black pepper and sea salt. Mix carefully so as not to crush the papaya and avocado cubes. Serve immediately or pack it up!