Healthy Quinoa Salad with Sesame-Crusted Salmon & Tahini Dressing
By: Audrey Shiu
Published: Sunday, August 9, 2015 - 3:15am

Ingredients




The Salad:
1 cup mixed quinoa (red and white)
3 spring onions, finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 carrot, peeled & grated
1 handful of mushrooms (I used bunashimeji from Japan)
3 coriander, roughly chopped
1 handful of fresh spinach leaves
1 handful of edamame
1 small cucumber, diced
salt and pepper
Tahini Dressing:
1/3 cup Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp tahini
Juice from 1 lemon
Sesame-Crusted Salmon:
Salmon sashimi slices
Sesame seeds
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
vegetable oil

Preparation

1 Begin by boiling a pot of water for the quinoa. While the quinoa is cooking, you may go ahead and place all the herbs and vegetables in a mixing bowl. The mushrooms must be separately cooked in a frying pan and mixed into the salad bowl. 2 Once the quinoa is cooked, set aside to cool. Prepare the tahini lemon dressing by mixing the yoghurt, tahini and lemon juice thoroughly in a small mixing bowl. 3 Take the salmon sashimi slices and dip them into the soy sauce and brown sugar mixture. Then gently coat them in sesame seeds. (The soy/sugar mixture will caramelise and create a tasty compliment for the salmon). Heat up a frying pan with vegetable oil on high heat and carefully sear the salmon on both sides until the sesame seeds have achieved a lovely golden brown colour. This should take a few minutes depending on the thickness of the salmon. 4 Add the cooled quinoa to the large mixing bowl with the vegetables and stir in the dressing little by little. Top with warm slices of sesame-crusted salmon.

About

This healthy quinoa recipe can be served with a side of any protein – be it fresh salmon (like here) or some leftover chicken. It is a really versatile recipe that can be adjusted to your taste buds!