Herby Quinoa Salad
Everyone needs a salad like this in their repertoire. This hardworking dish is great for dinner, lovely as a packed lunch and if stored properly in the fridge, will last a couple of days.
Overview
- 35 min
- Serves 4-6
- Easy
Keep for later
Ingredients
Salad
2 cups quinoa
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup frozen edamame beans (buy the ones already podded)
½ cup shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
½ cup roast unsalted cashews, roughly chopped
½ cup roughly chopped sundried tomatoes
½ cup pitted kalamata olives – roughly chopped
3 stems kale – spine removed and finely chopped
Dressing
½ cup pine nuts
150ml olive oil
60ml lemon or lime juice
1 small garlic clove – finely chopped
1 packed cup parley or basil (or a combo of both is nice)
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Instructions
Place 1 ½ cups of quinoa that has been rinsed well, into a medium saucepan with 3 cups of vegetable stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, with a lid slightly ajar for 15 minutes, until tender and the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the heat, place the lid on tight and leave to sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and then cool to come to room temperature or chill in the fridge. You can speed this up by spreading on a couple of plates.
Toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet over a medium heat until lightly golden. Add to a small food processor or use a hand blender to blitz together with all the dressing ingredients until fairly smooth. Taste and season well.
Cover the edamame beans in boiling water and leave for 5 minutes. Drain well.
Combine the cooled barley, nuts, edamame beans, sundried tomatoes, olives and kale. Stir well. Drizzle over the dressing and toss to coat evenly. Taste salad and season again if necessary.
Note
It’s important that the Quinoa is properly cooled when mixed with the other ingredients or the dressing will be absorbed into the grain and leave the salad dry.
Created by Kelly Gibney
Dietary Glossary