Quinoa avocado cucumber salad

Hola. People who know me know how much I love salads and how I consume them quite regularly. However, most times I just end up with very little time and put together a quick salad which never gets documented. So, I realised to change that a little bit and try and document as much as I can. Mainly because my salad dressings last for a phase and then a new set of favourites make its appearance. So sometimes, I forget about some of my fav salad dressings of a past phase and I wonder what sort of different dressing to use on a certain day. Also, I am a self proclaimed salad queen :). Everyone in my house loves my salad and we now have a family salad day :). I also realised that my mil & fil never get to properly consume my salads because I will buy all the ingredients in order to make it for all of us but almost always never get proper time to make it properly for them. So it either ends up being a quick not what exactly I had in my mind kinda salad or I tell mil what all she needs to chop and put and ofcourse tell her rough measurements for the salad dressing as well. While my mil is an awesome cook, she hasn’t eaten out much in her life outside of Indian restaurants and we all know what salad aka green salad that is served in our typical Indian restaurants. Hence the salads that she makes are very Indian tasting (awesome nevertheless). So even with my inputs on what all has to go into a salad dressing, she will cut up the veggies I ask her to but will end up doing a typical Indian seasoning/ salad dressing. So for a while now we try and do a salad lunch day for all of us where I prep the salad the prev night for all 4 of us so all of us can enjoy the salad that I make and I am glad to report that even my fil likes my salad :D. This thursday I am making a pasta salad for all of us and I am excite much.

Anywho, this salad below was made just for me and consumed completely by me for 1 meal :D. It is delish, super simple to make, extremely filling and also highly satiating. I do not prefer to use an entire avocado in a salad just for me. I ear mark half an avocado for each person although its good fats and stuff. I also size down on the quinoa and find this quantity right for me. You can ofcourse, play with the quantity of ingredients below based on your liking and preference.

On a personal note, I would like to record this for my own memory lane as well as for Tash & Sam :). You both belong to a no 1 mad family. So last week I took Tash & Adya to a roller skating trial and while on the way in the car, Tash declared that she can quickly learn skating because she goes to malls often where the floors are slippery and she’s apparently very used to a skating kinda experience :). I grinned and proceeded to indulge her in her thoughts. Cut scene to actual trials where the kids are doing the trial class while D & I are looking on to the kids, D suddenly and randomly throws a claim that he can easily learn to roller skate because he has learnt to skii. I was super shocked to know he had learnt to skii and couldn’t place when/ where etc. and then realised he is talking about the 2 trial classes I think free classes that come at Ski Dubai when you choose a certain category of activity :). I laughed but was not nice to him like I was to Tash and told him theoretical and practical knowledge are 2 very different things 🙂 (I was being mean but hey it was coming from a person who is not at all comfortable in a pair of skates but loves the idea of skating. So when someone throws around weight that they can easily learn and that someone happens to be your husband, won’t this be your natural reaction?! :D). Anywho, the following day I learnt from my co-sister (Tash’s mom) that while she was talking to my bil who lives in chennai (Sam’s dad) he also apparently claimed that he can learn roller skating pretty easily since he did 2 trial classes many many moons ago :). God, I absolutely love this mental family. The only person who should’ve said something as mental as the rest which would have totally made me lose it was my other bil (Tash’s dad) but nope, he burst my bubble by giving very similar reactions as me to what his brothers claimed :). Now documented kiddos, read it over and over and thank your respective moms for bringing in the sane side in you :D. PS – Sam, I learnt of the Lion will not hurt you phase from you mom when I recounted all this to her :). Now I am waiting for Adya to say something as funny as you all :D.

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Quinoa avocado cucumber salad

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

5 mins

 

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp quinoa cooked in 1/2 cup water open pot method
• 1 no cucumber
• 5 or 6 nos cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 no avocado
• 1 small onion
• 5 or 6 nos olives

Salad dressing

• 1.5 tsp mixed italian herbs oregano, thyme, basil
• 1/2 tsp white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp olive oil

Instructions

Cooking Quinoa

1. Wash and strain quinoa onto a small stove top vessel.

2. Pour 1/2c water & bring it to a boil and simmer.

3. Let it boil till all the water evaporates. Turn off the heat, place a lid on and let it cool down.

4. Fluff out the quinoa with a fork after 5 minutes, put the lid back on and allow it cool down completely. Meanwhile, get going on getting the veggies & dressing ready.

Salad dressing

1. In a small bowl, mix together 1.5t mixed italian herbs, 1/2t white vinegar, 1/2t dijon mustard, 1/2t salt, 1t olive oil with a fork.

2. Set it aside.

For the quinoa avocado cucumber salad

1. Wash all the veggies. Peel the cucumber and slice into chunks. Add it to a medium size bowl.

2. Half the cherry tomatoes and toss them into the bowl.

3. Scoop out the flesh of 1/2 avocado and chop them into chunks. Pop them into the bowl.

4. Peel onion skin and dice it into thin and long slices. Add it to your bowl.

5. Chop the olive (in case you got the whole ones) into slices and add it to your bowl.

6. Also add the cooked quinoa to this and mix it all up.

7. Pour the salad dressing on top of the salad and mix everything together.

8. Check and adjust salt and other seasoning.

9. Serve immediately or chill in the refrigerator till its time for munching!

Recipe Notes

1. I realised recently that avocado when kept in the fridge and mixed with veggies/ vinegar or lemon doesn’t become dark for a good 10-12 hours. So I use avocado in salads even when I make it the previous night & send it as lunch to D. 
2. You can pressure cook the quinoa for 3 whistles using the same measurement. 
3. I like my quinoa crunchy for salads and hence prefer open pot cooking method. Pressure cooking will make it soft. However, pressure cooking makes the quinoa sprout well. If you want the same texture/ sprouting in open pot cooking, cook with a lid on and on the lowest flame possible throughout. 
4. You can increase the amount of quinoa based on your preference. This quantity works for me. 
5. Chop all the veggies & salad leaves nice and fine makes a lot of difference to the final taste. So do not be lazy.
6. If you do not have tahina paste, then dry roast 2T sesame seeds & grind it with some olive oil. 
7. If you don’t have dijon mustard, that’s ok but dijon mustard has a way to elevate a salad dressing taste and I always have some on hand. Their shelf life is pretty good. So buy some and keep them handy. You can use it in everything. 
8. Veggies can be mixed and matched as always but then avo tastes well with onions, tomatoes, olives and then I am adding avo for fats & cukes for more fibre. So kinda becomes a simple whole meal. 
9. If you want to keep this oil free skip the olive oil but I recommend that 1t because I feel it brings all the flavours together well. 

Stepwise pictures