Quinoa and Apple Salad with Curry Dressing

Helga Glaesel de BlandingMay 29, 2013

This post is also available in / Esta entrada también está disponible en ESPAÑOL (SPANISH)

I made this salad last week at home, for one of our weekday meals. We’re looking for nutritious ingredients that pack vitamins and proteins into our diet, but we don’t want to sacrifice on flavor. This salad is a delight for the taste buds, the combination of fruits with the particular texture of quinoa and the tangy vinaigrette will have you asking for seconds, I promise. And, as we set out to do at the beginning of the year, we are trying to consistently include healthy recipes here at The Foodies’ Kitchen that you can share with your family.

You can try to use quinoa instead of rice to accompany any meal. The great thing about this seed, is that it takes less time to cook than rice, at only 15 min. It’s virtually fool proof (unlike rice, which… it took me some time to master), it has a high level of protein, provides all 9 essential amino acids and it is gluten free. I will definitely try other recipes using this ingredient, so be on the lookout for our Facebook post announcements. For now, you can also check out our Sweet Corn & Quinoa with Lemon Vinaigrette recipe. The original recipe calls for mint leaves. I’m not crazy about mint, so I substituted for cilantro.

And just a little reminder, you can still enter our Cocina al Chile contest! You have until June 5th to do so! Click here for more info.

Helga

Quinoa and Apple Salad with Curry Dressing

Adapted from Martha Stewart
Serves 4

Ingredients:
¼ cup almonds
1 cup white quinoa
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
1 teaspoon curry powder
¼ teaspoon coarse salt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons dried currants or cranberries
1 small McIntosh apple, cut into ⅛-inch-thick wedges
¼ cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped, plus more for garnish (optional)

Directions

On a hot medium sized skillet (over medium-low heat), cook the almonds until lightly toasted and fragrant. Let cool; coarsely chop nuts, if you used whole almonds.
Rinse quinoa thoroughly in a fine sieve; drain. Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add quinoa; return to a boil. Stir quinoa; cover, and reduce heat. Simmer until quinoa is tender but still chewy, about 15 minutes. Fluff quinoa with a fork; let cool.
Whisk together honey, shallot, curry powder, salt, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Season with pepper. Whisking constantly, pour in oil in a slow, steady stream; whisk until dressing is emulsified.
Add quinoa, currants (or cranberries), apple, mint (if using), and nuts; toss well. Garnish with mint, if you used this herb. Otherwise, you can use cilantro as a garnish.

Note:

You can substitute the mint leaves for cilantro.

Have you made this recipe?

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