Kale Quinoa salad
On day 3 of making salads for lunch (Day 1 was Kale Chickpea salad & Day 2 was Channa Chaat salad), am left with a lot of Kale and a bit of Quinoa. MIL had cooked some quinoa for me for dinner last night that I mixed with keera kootu and gobbled up with a side of gongura pickle :). Yes, Quinoa is versatile like that. You can just substitute it instead of rice or use it as a key carb in your salads – it blends so well in any darn dish in my opinion! Quinoa is actually a seed (not a grain people!!!!) harvested from a plant called goosefoot (such a cute plant name – am not surprised the end product is one of a kind cute as well). It’s a high fiber carb thereby making it a very healthy carb! Back to my original story – I had some kale, quinoa and very little time left :). So, wanted to whip up something quick, easy (and mentally was praying for a yummy which it turned out to be). There is a hypermarket called Spinneys in Dubai which has a kale salad mixed with some walnuts, raisins, parm cheese & very very basic olive oil vinaigrette dressing which I actually like. So I decided, i’ll try and make something of that sorts and see how it turns out. Like I mentioned above, the outcome was really good. Of course, I added many more salad and dressing ingredients that what I think might be there in that Spinneys’ kale recipe! As long as you have Kale & Quinoa in hand, the rest are typically kitchen/ pantry ingredients! So, give this a try and let me know!
- 2 cups cleaned, de-ribbed & chopped kale
- 3/4 cup cooked quinoa
- 1/8 cup walnuts (broken)
- 1/8 cup raisins
- 1/8 cup parmesan cheese
- 10 sprigs spring onion chopped (optional)
- 1 tsp sunflower seeds (for garnish)
- 1.5 tbsp lemon juice
- 1.5 tbsp olive oil
- 3/4 tsp honey
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp dried red chilli flakes (optional)
- 1 no small minced/ pressed garlic
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
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Mix all the ingredients mentioned in the 'For the dressing' section in a small bowl and set it aside.
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In a large bowl, add the chopped kale & a bit of salt. Massage with fingers for a minute to release the flavours and for the salt to get incorporated on to the kale.
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Add the quinoa now and give it a stir.
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Throw in the parm, walnuts, raisins & spring onion and give the whole mixture a good stir.
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Pour the salad dressing over the mixture and combine well.
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Refrigerate for 6-8 hours or overnight so that all the flavours of the dressing will be nicely soaked in the salad.
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Enjoy the salad with a garnish of sunflower seeds for that extra crunch and goodness :).
1) D tasted the salad as soon as I had made it and thought it was very garlicky. However, after a few hours of soaking in, to me it seemed perfect.
2) If you do not have lemon juice on hand, you can substitute it with a tbsp of white white vinegar.
Stepwise pictures
For the dressing
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- In a small bowl, add olive oil, lemon juice, honey, red chilli flakes, oregano, pepper, salt & garlic.
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- Whisk well & set it aside.
For the salad
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- In a large bowl, add the chopped kale & a bit of salt and massage with your fingers to release the flavour of kale & for the salt to get incorporated in kale.
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- Add the cooked quinoa and give it a stir.
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- Throw in the parm, walnuts, raisins & spring onions.
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- Mix well.
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- Pour the salad dressing and combine well.
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- Refrigerate for 6-8 hours and serve with a garnish of sunflower seeds!
