Spicy quinoa salad

This quinoa salad is actually something I just quickly threw together for lunch the other day, it wasn’t meant for the blog, but I love how it turned out so I had to share it! It is so simple and easy to make, but I think it taste absolutely amazing and you can pretty much use whatever kind of veggies and greens you have available. Another big plus is that it taste just as great cold as it does warm, so you can make a large portion and have the leftovers for lunch or dinner the next day.

Ingredients - 1 large/2 small servings:

Salad:

½ cup quinoa

1 cup water

1/ 2 small mango

1 large kale leaf

1/3 cup red bell pepper

1/ 3 cup cucumber

½ avocado

2 spring onion

Dressing:

3 tbsps. sweet chilli sauce

1 tbsp. soy

The juice of 1 lemon

A little fresh flat leaf parsley or fresh cilantro (or both) – chopped finely

 

Directions:

1. Rinse the quinoa in cold water
2. Cook the quinoa for about 15 minutes and set it aside with the lid on while you prep the salad
3. Chop up the rest of the ingredients for the salad
4. Combine the ingredients for the dressing – you can use flat leaf parsley or cilantro or even both, but be careful not to use too much or it will overpower the other flavours
5. Mix the salad, quinoa and dressing
6. Enjoy!

Spicy falafels

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

½ cup chopped red bell pepper

1 cup oats

2 cloves garlic

Packed ½ cup fresh flat leaf parsley - remove the stems

Packed 1/3 fresh cilantro

1/3 cup chopped scallions

Juice from ½ lemon

1 tblsp. ground cumin

1 tblsp. ground turmeric

1/2 tblsp. Sea salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1-2 tblsp. water - optional

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees c / 400 degress f
2. Place all the ingredients (except the water) in a food processor (or blender, it might be a bit challenging, but I made it work) and pulse until the ingredients are properly mixed - scrape down the sides if necessary, when making this in a blender you need to do this a couple of times – but do not over blend it, in my opinion they turn out better if it still has some texture. If the mixture is too dry, add the water.
3. Cover a baking tray with baking paper and use your hands to roll the mixture into balls and place them on the tray
4. Bake for about 30 minutes, turning them after 15 minutes to allow them to bake on both sides.
5. Enjoy!

I served the falafels with a big salad and homemade beet hummus - find the recipe here!