Fresh: Super Crunchy Quinoa Salad with Lemon & Mint Yogurt Dressing

Are you down with the quinoa fad?! It’s more than a fad. It’s a MOVEMENT! Quinoa is  delicious and you should try it if you haven’t already. Perhaps you have been avoiding it like a much-lauded, newly released movie? JUST because everyone says it’s great? Perhaps you are scared that it won’t live up to its reputation? That you might suffer quinoa disappointment?

WELL. I am here to tell you that if you like things like couscous or rice, then quinoa is probably your homie, too. Quinoa is a high protein, gluten-free and rather than being a grain, it’s a seed. You need to rinse it before you cook it and then it absorbs twice its quantity in water and becomes a super fluffy, super nourishing base for salads and other good stuff.

Today I’ve made a salad, to show you how rad quinoa can be. I thought we’d be SUPER healthy and tumble a whole lot of green vegetables, lemony yogurt and quinoa together into a crunchy concoction of fresh, good health.

Here’s my KEEN-WAH salad. That’s how you say it. KEEN-WAH. You’re totes in the know now. Quinoa with me…!

Super Crunchy Quinoa Salad with Lemon & Mint Yogurt Dressing

1 cup of quinoa
2 cups of cold water
100g snow peas, sliced
100g green beans, sliced
1 lebanese cucumber, diced
1 stick of celery, diced
100g of asparagus, sliced
1 avocado, diced
50g peas, fresh or frozen 

To lightly dress the greens:
1 tbsp of olive oil
1/2 tbsp of red wine vinegar
salt and pepper 

For the yogurt dressing:
100ml of greek yogurt
juice of one small lemon
a handful of mint, chopped

2 tsps of sambal oelek or chilli sauce

First, cook the quinoa.  Rinse it well and then put the quinoa into a saucepan with the two cups of water. Bring to the boil and then turn the heat down and simmer for about 15 minutes with the lid on until the water has evaporated.  Take the quinoa off the heat and fluff it up a  bit with a fork. Leave to cool.

Meanwhile, blanch the beans, snow peas, asparagus and peas until they are cooked, but still a wee bit crunchy. You want the crunch to make things super yum. Once cooked, cool in a bowl of cold water and then drain and plonk into a big bowl.  Have you done that? Great! To the beans, snow peas, asparagus and peas, add the celery, avocado and cucumber.  Then add the olive oil and red wine vinegar and some salt and pepper. Mix it all up really well.

Make the yogurt dressing next. Just mix the yogurt, lemon juice and mint together with some freshly ground pepper. Simple!

We’re nearly done. Let’s assemble the salad.  First layer the cool quinoa onto a platter or into a bowl. Tumble the crunchy green vegetables on top. You don’t need to arrange it. Just keep things relaxed!

Now dollop the yogurt on top. Season with a few mint leaves and some salt and pepper.  Add chilli if you are spicy like me!

Variations : You could add lots of things to this salad: cherry tomatoes, roast chicken, bbq prawns, tofu or sliced, seared beef. Customise to suit your taste!

Do you like quinoa? Have you tried it? Do you want to? Does this look yum to you?!

x Pip

This post is part of the Coles Fresh and Real story. Fresh food to inspire.