A simple quinoa salad with Asian flair. Fresh cilantro and a dressing made with fresh ginger, honey, lemon and soy sauce add a flavour boost to an otherwise simple summer salad.
Course
Salad
Category
Mediterranean
Prep Time15minutes
Cook Time20minutes
Total Time35minutes
Servings6
Calories282kcal
AutorElle
Ingredients
For the salad:
1cuptri-color quinoa,rinsed (200 g)
2-3baby cucumbers(or one English cucumber), seeded, diced
300gcherry tomatoes,halved or quartered
3handfuls baby spinach (100 g)
1small bunch cilantro,roughly chopped
For the dressing:
freshly squeezed juice from 2 lemons
2tablespoonshoney
2teaspoonssoy sauce(or tamari)
4tablespoonsextra-virgin olive oil
1tablespoonfreshly grated ginger
Method
To cook the quinoa: Combine the rinsed quinoa and double the amount of water in a medium saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, then decrease the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook until the quinoa has absorbed all of the water, about 15 minutes (or according to package instructions). Remove from heat, cover, and let the quinoa stand for 5 minutes. Use a fork to fluff. Transfer to a large serving bowl to cool.
In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, honey, soy sauce, oil and ginger.
Add the dressing to the cooled quinoa. Toss to combine. Then add the cucumber, tomato, spinach and cilantro and toss again to incorporate. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
This salad makes a great bring along to your next barbecue or picnic. If preparing ahead of time, I recommend adding the dressing as soon as you are ready to serve. Alternatively, you could toss everything together ahead time except the spinach. Add the spinach directly before serving to avoid soggy leaves.
I used a a tri-color blend of quinoa for this recipe, but have also made it with only red and black quinoa which also makes it look a little more interesting. Otherwise white quinoa is also fine!
This salad is easily adapted to become vegan. Simply replace the honey with maple syrup.