Sweet and Spiced Quinoa Salad

This ridicu­lously healthy Sweet and Spiced Quinoa Salad is nour­ish­ing, easy to make ahead, and keeps well in the fridge. What I’m über happy about, though, is that I finally learned how to get quinoa to absorb fla­vors — and it’s so easy that I feel silly writ­ing about it… but more on that a bit later.

I’m willing to take any excuse to take care of everything…. I ♥ my cone.

This quinoa salad is another one of my deli-style concoctions.

Anyway, I filled my quinoa salad with chickpeas, dried currants, red peppers and a touch of agave nectar. Turmeric and curry powder add yellow colour and a mix of flavours – it’s a lot of quinoa, but it’s not bland, far from it. The secret is to let it sit in the fridge overnight to allow the spices and sweetness of the dried agave and currants to soak into the quinoa seeds. On the second day, it’s twice as good, a logic I used to apply only to stews.

You can enjoy this salad hot or cold, which makes it practical to take with you to work lunches. Feel free to add the protein of your choice – I added poached and diced turkey breast when I reheated the salad today, although quinoa is already packed with nutrients and protein.

Feel free to substituite raisins in place of currants, I simply like how small and pretty the currants are. The sweetness and flavor will be very similar to raisins, though. I bought my currants in the bulk section at my local supermarket, just to give a hint where you can look for them.

Easy Quinoa Salad

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Course Salad, Side Dish

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup quinoa uncooked cooked yield is 3 cups
• 1 tbs olive oil
• ½ medium yel­low onion finely chopped
• ½ large red bell pep­per chopped
• 2 cel­ery sticks chopped
• ¼ cup dried currants
• 1 cup chickpeas
• 1 tbs agave nectar
• 1 tbs white wine vinegar
• 2 tbs curry pow­der a mild ver­sion used here
• 1 tsp turmeric
• salt to taste

Instructions

 

• Rinse the quinoa thor­oughly using a fine mesh strainer. To cook, place 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water in a cok­ing pot, and bring to boil. Cover and sim­mer on low for 15 min­utes, or until the water is absorbed.
• Heat the oil in a medium skil­let, and add the onions, red pep­per, and chopped cel­ery. Sauté until translu­cent and remove from heat, then pour into a salad bowl.
• Add the remain­ing ingre­di­ents, mix­ing well. For best results, wrap tightly and refrig­er­ate overnight before eat­ing for the fla­vors to absorb.

Keyword healthy salad, sides