Quinoa Salad with Edamame Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Quinoa salad with edamame, a nice crunch, and sesame ginger flavors. Recipe can serve a crowd; hearty, vegan, gluten-free, oil-free.

Plant Diversity: Striving for 30 different plants per week for optimal gut health.

The number of plants in this recipe: At least 8 plants

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: American, Asian, Japanese

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan

Servings:

Calories: 116.66kcal

Equipment

medium pot with lid
burner on stove
small pan or baking sheet and oven
cutting board and sharp knife
measuring cups and spoons including liquid measuring cup

Ingredients

Quinoa

1 cup quinoa dry
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon garlic granules or dry minced or powdered
2 cups filtered water

Salad

14 oz edamame shelled, frozen (12-16 oz)
½ savoy cabbage or napa, medium
1 red onion small-medium
1 cucumber medium
1 bell pepper medium

Add just before eating:

¼ cup basil and/or mint leaves
10 oz lettuce such as butter, romaine; optional

Dressing

2 Roasted Sesame Dressing (double batch)

Topping ideas

sesame seeds natural or black
scallions sliced
edible flowers
additional herbs such as lemon balm, additional mint or basil.

Instructions

Cook the edamame. Boil the frozen edamame in a medium pot of water for about 5 minutes until tender, then drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. Set the pot aside to cook the quinoa.
If making in advance: Once cooled, place in a refrigerated sealed container.
Cook the quinoa. Rinse the quinoa in a strainer. Add the quinoa, ginger powder, garlic granules, and filtered water to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a covered simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and remove the lid, fluff with a fork, and set aside.
If making in advance: Once cooled, place in a refrigerated sealed container.
Prep veggies. After washing veggies, slice the cabbage and chop the onion, cucumber and bell pepper, removing any seeds first, if desired.
Prep lettuce and herbs (basil/mint) just before serving, removing herb leaves from stems.
Make dressing. Roast /toast the sesame seeds and blend ingredients (see recipe for details).
Combine ingredients. Combine all ingredients except the dressing, lettuce, and fresh herbs (basil/mint) in a large bowl.
Serve and store.
If planning leftovers, store the estimated leftover amount of the salad mixture (without dressing, lettuce, or fresh herbs) in a refrigerated sealed container. Store dressing, lettuce, and fresh herbs for the leftovers in separate refrigerated sealed containers until ready to serve. This will help ingredients stay fresh.
For the portion to be eaten immediately, toss in the appropriate amount of lettuce and dressing with the combined salad ingredients. Then, place the mixture in a serving bowl or platter. Finally, scatter the fresh herbs on top, along with any other toppings you'd like.
Consume within a few days.

Notes

Makes 6-12 main dish salads or about 16-20 side salads. It depends on how hungry your eaters are! If this is all you're serving, I would figure 6 to be safe, which would be large portions - again, depending on your eaters.

The salad is low in calories and fat yet high in protein and fiber, so I would err on having too much rather than too little. You can dress and add lettuce and herbs to half at a time so you can store leftovers, if needed.

Time estimate: This recipe can be completed in about 30 minutes. Since the veggies can be prepped while the edamame and quinoa cook, the time estimate of 10 minutes prep is really for making the dressing. So, about 20 minutes of veg prep while ingredients cook and 10 minutes for making the dressing.

Nutrition