Monday, July 1, 2013

A Salad for Hot Humid Weather


My husband is not a fan of quinoa, but I like it.  I keep trying new quinoa recipes, but so far no luck as far as enticing him.  So this recipe is mostly for me --- and there's enough to keep me in lunch all week.  And maybe, just maybe, he'll tolerate this one.




My Asian-Inspired Quinoa Salad

1 cup uncooked quinoa
pinch of salt
1 small onion diced (use more or less, depending on what you have, and your taste)
1 carrot diced
1 red pepper chopped
2 garlic scapes (or you could use green onions) chopped
1 cup of celery diced
1/2-1 serrano chili, diced (according to your taste)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro  (or more if you wish)

Prepare quinoa per package directions.  (2 parts liquid to 1 cup grain).  I added a pinch of salt to the cooking water, but after making the dressing, I think I will eliminate it another time.  You can do this ahead of time.

Chop and dice all the other ingredients and toss with the cooked quinoa.

Dressing:

1/4 cup peanut butter
1 TBS honey
1 TBS lime juice (can add more to taste)
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 TBS sesame oil
1 TBS olive oil
3 TBS soy sauce

Put all the dressing ingredients in a microwavable container and heat for about 20 seconds.  Remove from microwave and whisk until smooth.  Adjust with extra lime juice or oil if needed.  You can add some black pepper too.

I couldn't find my sesame oil, and then realized I'd used it all, so I just used more olive oil.

Pour dressing over salad and mix well.  Eat immediately or chill.

This is a very forgiving salad --- add other veggies as  you desire, and adjust quantities of veggies as you desire.  Most of the Asian quinoa salads I've seen use red cabbage, but I didn't have any so I used the celery instead.  My celery was on its last legs, so I just sliced off all the bad tops  and used the bottom 4 inches of the head.  Lots of crunch!

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