Healthy Green Quinoa Salad
vegetarian / prep time 10 minutes / cook time 10 minutes
Oh my, I made this salad for our Passover celebration dinner, and it was so good, I had to share it here. It is filled with fresh finely chopped herbs, quinoa for the crunch and a bit of protein, and soaked in a sweet-sour pomegranate dressing that makes you want to snack the whole thing.
This is a perfect side dish, super tasty and healthy. It could also work as a main with some added protein like chicken, soy beans etc, just be creative.
Story time
It was Passover evening, I was in the middle of all the food prep and I realized I was lacking a green touch to the table, as most dishes where on the brown side of the color scheme. I needed to add another salad. I wanted to do something new and different, that would also look a bit more festive. First thing to come on my mind was the tabule salad. This salad is rich in herbs, loaded with Parsley, scallion, etc and burgul. Flavored with a lot of lemon and olive oil. I liked the idea of the green herbs and immediately chopped all I could find, but I couldn’t use burgul for the grain it was Passover and you can’t have any leaven. I used quinoa instead. I also decided to change the dressing and give it a sweet-sour touch. topped it all with some fruit to give it a new look and taste.
Ingredients for 2 serves
For the salad:
2 large bundles (2 handful) fresh parsley
2 scallions
1 bundle (hand) fresh chives
1 handful fresh mint leaves
1 handful fresh basil leaves
¼ cup quinoa
A handful of fresh raspberries or pomegranate seeds for the topping
For the dressing:
1 tsp olive oil
1/8 cup pomegranate concentrate
Juice from 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
watch the video
Method
Cook the quinoa. Place the quinoa with ½ cup of water in a saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for approximately 10 min until the quinoa is tender and the liquid is absorbed. Set aside to cool.
Finely chop all the herbs, parsley, scallion, chives, mint leaves, and basil leaves. Place in a bowl.
Prepare the dressing. In a small bowl mix together the olive oil, pomegranate concentrate, lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add the cooled down quinoa to the herbs, drizzle over the dressing and toss gently to combine.
Top with raspberries or fresh pomegranate seeds.
Enjoy fresh as a side dish or on its own. I love serving it with some fish.
