Curried Quinoa Salad

I love quinoa! It's got a ton of complete protein - so it's a filling, meaty kind of thing to eat, especially in winter. It's also got a healthy amount of iron, and contains high levels of potassium and riboflavin, as well as other B vitamins: B6, niacin, and thiamin. It is also a good source of magnesium, zinc, copper, and manganese, and has some folate (folic acid). It's a seed, not a grain, so most people can eat it just fine, myself included! 


Quinoa has been in vogue lately among certain delis and restaurants in Canada, or so I have noticed (gratefully) on my grain-free traveling to Toronto, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Banff and Winnipeg this past year. Rocket in St. John's also makes a nice quinoa salad....but I prefer my own! Feel free to play with this recipe as your fridge and your whims dictate. 

Curried Quinoa Salad
Serves 2


1 cup cooked quinoa (I usually cook 1 cup dry quinoa at a time and use the leftovers the next day to make this salad). If not, cook 1/2 cup quinoa like rice, in 1 cup water, covered and simmering for 15 min. Rinse in cold water till cooled. 


1-2 green onions, minced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced and let to sit out in the air for at least 2 minutes (helps activate its antiviral properties!)
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup cold cooked brown lentils
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
handful golden raisins
handful sunflower seeds 
handful cashews, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp curry powder 
1 tsp cumin 
dash cayenne
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste


For each bowl:
Handful of romaine lettuce or other lettuce
1 clementine, peeled and separated into slices




Mix everything together and adjust flavours to taste. Put lettuce in bowls, scoop quinoa salad on top. Top with clementine slices and enjoy! This is quite portable and makes a satisfying lunch when tossed with some juicy romaine pieces! Here's the same salad with some sautéed asparagus on top...

You could swap out the curry flavours for spices like dill and oregano, possibly some feta for the non-vegans, a squeeze of lemon instead of the orange pieces, and throw a few olives on it for a Greek twist. Likewise fresh basil, sun dried tomatoes, cucumbers and tomato for an Italian quinoa salad...I could go on here but I am just getting too hungry....and there's definitely quinoa in the fridge!