Chef's Notes
This salad can be made in advance and makes a nice, healthy side dish. It can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
Step 1: Cooking the Quinoa
- 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 cup vegetable stock or water
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
First clean the quinoa by rinsing it under cold water until the water runs clear (see note).
Place the stock, quinoa and salt into a small pot and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Let cook for approximately 15 minutes or until all of the liquid has been absorbed.
Once done, remove from the heat and let rest, covered, for at least 5 minutes.
Once rested, spread the quinoa out onto a plate to cool completely.
NOTE: Quinoa is coated with saponins, a bitter-tasting compound that deters birds and other animals from eating the seeds. To remove the saponins, rinse the quinoa thoroughly under cold running water in a fine-mesh strainer until the water runs clear and no longer appears frothy. This means the saponins have been washed away. You can also soak the quinoa in fresh water for 10-15 minutes before rinsing, which loosens the saponins and reduces rinsing time (and also saves water).
Step 2: Preparing Your Mise en Place
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper or 1/2 mango, diced
- 2-3 Tbsp. red onion, finely diced
- 1/2 bunch green onions, sliced
- 1/4 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
- 2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
- 1 cup small-diced zucchini
- 1 cucumber, small diced
- 2 cups cooked black beans (red beans would also be lovely in this dish)
To prepare your mise en place, cut the pepper into small dice. *Note: instead of yellow pepper, diced mango would make a nice alternative.
Finely dice the red onion, slice the green onions. Seed and dice the tomatoes, and small dice the zucchini and cucumber. Roughly chop the cilantro and set everything aside.
Step 3: Assembling the Salad
- 3 tbsp sherry vinegar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 2 tsp chipotle pepper puree
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- sea salt, to taste
- 1/2 cup diced avocado
To make the vinaigrette, whisk together the vinegar, soy sauce, lime juice and chipotle pepper puree in a large bowl.
Next, add the black beans, quinoa and all of your mise en place. Gently fold everything together and adjust the seasonings to your liking (i.e., more lime juice, soy sauce, chipotle pepper, avocado, etc.).
Serve immediately. It can also be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days.