Skip to main content

Quinoa / Adzuki Bean Salad

Ridiculously healthy tastiness, served.

You know when you go to the farmer's market and every single vegetable looks so good that you want to buy one of each, but you can't figure out how to possibly prepare them all before they go bad? Enter this versatile quinoa (or couscous) and adzuki bean (or any other bean) salad. The more veggies, the better.

On this particular day, I had acquired: sugar snap peas, carrots, cherry tomatoes, red onion, and cucumber. Add to that some avocado, dried cranberries, mandarin orange slices, capers, and parsley from the garden, and we have the beginnings of something delicious.



My only quinoa trick is to cook it in stock. It's 10 times better than it is in water.

I've come to love adzuki beans, and they're extraordinarily good for you in their natural form (as opposed to in their sweet paste form in Japanese sweets). I boil them with a piece of kombu (which I acquired for this bean and rice recipe) because I read that it makes them taste better and also aids digestion. But I'm sure you could skip the kombu.

 I made a huge serving of this and it tasted great 6 days later. We ate it for lunch all week... it's easy to pack for school/work lunches, since it can sit out and be eaten at room temperature.

Adjust the grain, bean, veggies, and dressing to your liking. It's hard to go wrong with this one.


The Recipe:
1 cup dry quinoa
2 cups veggie or chicken stock
1 cup dry adzuki beans
Small piece kombu, optional
3 tb extra virgin olive oil
2 tb lemon juice
1 tb mustard
2 cloves garlic
salt and pepper, to taste
Sugar snap peas, carrots, cherry tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, avocado, dried cranberries, mandarin orange slices, capers, and parsley... or whatever veggies you prefer.
  • Cook the quinoa in stock.
  • Soak the adzuki beans for at least a few hours, then cook them in water with the kombu for about 40 minutes, until soft.
  • Blend olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper into a dressing.
  • Cut your chosen vegetables into your chosen shapes and sizes.
  • Mix everything together and enjoy at room temperature.

The Verdict:
Overall grade: A
Overall reason: So. Healthy. And it tastes really good, too.
Time to prepare: 1 hour of work, 3+ hours for soaking beans.
Husband quote: (With great surprise in his voice:) Woah, this is good!



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kitchen renovation!

BEFORE: AFTER: Still to come: a beautiful new induction range and some wood shelving on the left side, above the backsplash. And maybe the shelving unit on the wall facing the cabinets should be green, but we're going to live with a while before making that decision.
2 comments
Read more

Red lentil dal

Cucumber salad is key. This dal is perfect. Most of us took seconds, and I'm really excited to eat the last portion that's sitting in the fridge right now. The accompanying salad is really great for adding texture, crunch, and acidity to the meal. I wouldn't skip it. I got it from  Tea for Turmeric  and prepared it pretty much as written, but doubled and with none of the optional ingredients. This recipe doesn't mention any seasoning/dressing on the salad, but adding lemon and salt to it really brightened things up. The Recipe: (from Tea for Turmeric) 2 c red lentils splash of avocado oil 2 tsp cumin seeds 2 small onions, finely chopped 1 inch ginger, grated 4 small tomatoes, chopped 2 thai chilies, minced 2 tsp cumin powder 2 tsp coriander powder 1 tsp cayenne 1 tsp turmeric 2+ tsp kosher salt 2 tsp lemon juice 1/2 c cilantro, chopped For serving: basmati rice and plain yogurt Salad ingredients: 1/2 english cucumber, sliced 10 cherry tomatoes, quartered 1/4 onion, slic...
Post a Comment
Read more

Vietnamese Curry Stir-Fry

  When I get the recipe just right, I'll go to the effort of adding fried shallots on top. I'm back to my on-and-off mission of trying to make a stir-fry as delicious as the shrimp I used to get at  Pho Grand  in St. Louis during college. It was called "cari tom" but it definitely wasn't a coconut milk type of curry, and they ALSO have a separate listing on their menu for "cari tom dac biet" which includes "coconut milk sauce" in their description. So I'm pretty sure it was just a stir-fry that had curry flavors in it? I got myself a big container of Vietnamese curry powder and I'm going to keep experimenting. This is the closest I've come so far. Changes for the future: - More oil and sugar, restaurant style - A blend of fish sauce and soy sauce, instead of just soy sauce - Fried shallots on top The Recipe (adapted from  Veggie Anh ): 3 tb fresh lemongrass, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 Thai chili, minced 1 pinch salt 2 tb avoc...
Post a Comment
Read more