Meet my new favorite lunch. A healthy salad with lots of quinoa and veggies and a dressing that will knock your socks off.
The inspiration for this salad? I really need to use up a bottle of Thai green curry paste in my fridge. And now that I’ve discovered this little dressing, I will have absolutely no problem doing just that.
serves 3
2 T light coconut milk
1 t green curry paste
1/2 t grated fresh ginger
zest and juice of 1 lime
1 stalk lemongrass
1 clove garlic
1/2 C quinoa
1 1/2 C water
2 cloves garlic
1 large carrot, shredded
1/4 C shredded red cabbage
2 large leaves shredded romaine lettuce
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 C cashews, chopped
2 scallions, thinly sliced
Combine first four ingredients in a small bowl. To grate the lemongrass stalk, cut the very end off the stalk, remove any very dry or damaged outer leaves (I’m not sure if they’re really leaves, but you’ll see what I mean). Then just grate the cut side on a microplane grater until you have about a teaspoon. Don’t get rid of the rest of that lemongrass stalk, we’re using it all! Add grated lemongrass to the dressing, stir, and set aside.
We’re using the rest of the lemongrass stalk to flavor the quinoa while it’s cooking. Lay the stalk on your cutting board, and using the back of a knife, beat it up. Yep! Maybe make this salad on a day when you have some aggressions to work out. Beat up that lemongrass stalk on all sides, then cut it into pieces that will fit in the saucepan you’re cooking your quinoa in.
Place quinoa, water, the beaten up lemongrass stalk, and garlic in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and reduce to a simmer for about 15 minutes until quinoa is cooked.
While the quinoa is cooking, you can chop, shred, dice, and otherwise prep the rest of your ingredients. Then toss quinoa, veggies, and dressing all together.
Yes, this is a small amount of dressing for a fairly big salad, but there is so much flavor here that a tiny bit goes a long way. Just make sure to toss everything really well so your whole salad is lightly coated.
Nutrition facts per serving: Calories: 233; Calories from Fat: 89; Total Fat: 9.9g; Saturated Fat: 3.4g; Sodium: 97mg; Total Carbohydrates: 31.8g; Dietary Fiber: 5.2g; Sugars: 4.6g; Protein: 7.3g
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