The Union ~ Cut The Line
Janis Ian ~ At Seventeen
Toyah ~ Thunder In The Mountains
The Quireboys ~ Hey You
Jimmy Clift ~ Wonderful World, Beautiful People
The Commitments ~ Mustang Sally
Def Leppard ~ Rocket
Jack Johnson ~ Belle
Thunder ~ One Bullet
UB40 ~ The Way You Do The Thing You Do
Presley ~ Loving You
Melissa Etheridge ~ I Want To Be In Love
Kid Rock ~ Cocky
Bing Crosby ~ Well Did You Evah?
Well it's still raining and it looks like it is staying for the weekend. Yesterday I indulged in a moment of winter comfort with a great lentil soup but today I am going all out for a fresh and delicious salad. If I can't have spring outside then in inside the house I will...oh yes! The recipe fed through on my Pinterest feed and I was clicking on the link immediately. It is from the kitchen of Monique over at her blog ambitiouskitchen.com. Her blog isn't vegan but is vegan friendly and worth a look..I enjoyed my time over there. And for her original posting including this recipe simply click here..
Now as there is only me enjoying lovely vegan fare these days...(still death food for ML sadly)..I halved the recipe straight away and I made a couple of adaptions...small ones so below is the recipe as I made it and as always, for Monique's method, simply use the link above. For the actual salad I added extra red pepper, carrot and red cabbage and left out red onions as I loathe raw onion. I left in the spring onion because I can tolerate that in small amounts. In the dressing I subbed the honey with agave, apple cyder vinegar for the red wine vinegar and Braggs for soy sauce/tamari. I also used a wholefood peanut butter. And although I halved the dressing recipe I still only used a fraction of it but got enough for a good flavour but I am a little bit of a purist when it comes to my veggies and salads...I don't like my dressing to take over the dish. So with those few changes...lol...I got busy...
...I adored this salad. Absolutely, completely, devoured it. The many textures would make this a fantastic salad in itself but combined with the peanut based dressing and the cashews. WOW! Only now do I wish I'd made the full recipe so I could enjoy it for the next few days. Lesson learnt, eh? lol Yes the spring onions did make me twitch a little but then they always do. This salad was refreshing in flavour and light in texture...just what I was needing today so thanks Monique.
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| Monique's Crunchy Thai Quinoa Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing |
Crunchy Thai Quinoa Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing Serves 2-3
(Recipe by Monique @ ambitiouskitchen.com)
3/8 cup uncooked quinoa
1 cup of red cabbage, finely sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 red onion, diced ( I omitted this)
1/2 cup carrots, grated
1/4 cup of fresh coriander/cilantro, chopped
2 small spring onions, finely sliced
1/2 heaped cup cooked edamame, cooled
juice of one lime
For the dressing:
1/8 cup wholefood crunchy peanut butter
1 tsp fresh ginger, micro-grated
1 1/2 tbsp Braggs animos
1/2 tbsp agave nectar
1/2 tbsp apply cyder vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp olive (next time I would leave this out)
water to thin to desired consistency (I didn't need this)
To cook the quinoa: Rinse the quinoa very well with fresh water in a metal strainer. In a small saucepan bring 3/4 cup of water to a boil. Add the quinoa to the pot and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes or until the quinoa had absorbed all fo the water. Remove from the heat and fluff with a fork, place in a large bowl and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes. Set to one side.
The make the dressing: Add peanut butter and agave to a medium bowl and heat in the microwave for 20 seconds. Add in the ginger, Braggs, vinegar, and both sesame and olive oils and stir until mixture is smooth and creamy. If you want a thinner dressing, simply add in a tsp water.
Add as much or as little as you like to the quinoa. Alternatively you can save the dressing to drizzle on the quinoa and veggie mix afterwards. (I mixed mine into the quinoa) Next fold in the red pepper, onion, cabbage, carrots and coriander into the quinoa. Garnish with the cashews and spring onions. Serve chilled or at room temperature with lime wedges if desired.
Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Saturday has been splendid...and hey...the sun's out! Well..sort of..lol
~Red~
NB: This is not my recipe and therefore I take no credit for it whatsoever. It is the hard work and creation of Monique @ ambitiouskitchen.com and hers alone. I thank her for such a great recipe. ~R~
