Super Quinoa Summer Salad with Mirin, Sesame and Nigella

I wanted to open that box of quinoa before it turned bad.

And I had bought a rather overpriced quinoa salad from a rather overpriced food store on various occasions, but why not make my own quinoa summer salad? It would make a nice alternative to my standard Greek Salad. Mine was tricolour quinoa from a local health shop. First, I boiled the quinoa for eight minutes. The package says put two parts of water and one part of quinoa. Who cares. Just drain most water after eight minutes, then let it stand for a few minutes with a bit of water in the pot.

Then I threw some boiling water over some frozen edamame beans (I buy mine from a mainstream British Supermarket), and let it stand for a minute. Slice a carrot and a few radishes. Throw in a few chia seeds (they are healthy, and disguise wonderfully here)

I added a bit of fresh lemon juice and olive oil  the quinoa and mixed it all in a pot.

Then I made a dressing from things languishing in the fridge. Tahini is an excellent staple and goes with nearly anything. Any Middle Eastern/Turkish Supermarket  will have it, or I guess you get it in some fancy places, too. I added a bit of Mirin, because Mirin is always nice, and some light soy sauce. Add more mirin with standard soy sauce. I added Nigella seeds to the dressing because it looks nicer but honestly, I think they just add some bitterness, maybe leave them out. Put in a photogenic bowl, and ta-da… quinoa summer salad is ready!

The fancy low carb version

Last not least, you could stick it into an iceberg leaf and call it a clean wrap or low-carb pitta for your super quinoa summer salad. So clean, vegan, raw and low-carb, hits all the cliches at once. Actually, the quinoa isn’t low carb, with a glycaemic index of 57, its’s very slow carb. All I am interested in is whether it’s reasonably healthy and whether it tastes good.

However, had I not gone to that crazy yoga retreat two years ago I would hardly be into all that healthy raw rabbit food now. Gee, this looks really quite tosser-y “The Simple Things”  magazine stylee. Nota bene: I still apply some cooking. I even *gasp* fry sometimes.