Easy Quinoa Vegetable Salad with Lemony Tahini Dressing

The goodness of quinoa and vegetables in a salad – all enveloped in a creamy lemony tahini dressing. Easy to assemble with the simplest, no-fuss ingredients, a salad that isn’t at all boring but a balanced meal in itself!

Until few years ago, my idea of salad was greens and carrots thrown together on a plate. Perhaps I need not explain that salads represented penance to me, with veggies topped with a store-bought dressing. I wouldn’t consider salads a meal, and would ‘punish’ myself with a salad every once in a while to compensate for a meal that I went overboard with earlier in the day.

Quinoa, chickpea and sesame seeds in the dressing inculcate ample protein and essential fats, while veggies serve as a micronutrient powerhouse as well as dietary fiber.

RECIPE: CHICKPEA QUINOA FETA VEGETABLE SALAD WITH LEMONY TAHINI DRESSING

Serves 4

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups chickpeas, soaked overnight, boiled (canned ones can be used too)
• 200 gms quinoa
• 1 cup spinach, cleaned
• 1 bell pepper, red or yellow, chopped
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1/2 cup red cabbage, chopped
• 2-3 garlic pods, minced
• 1 cup spinach, roughly sliced
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced into quarters
• ½ cup carrots, chopped
• 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
• 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp pepper
• Salt, to taste
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ½ tbsp sunflower oil

INSTRUCTIONS

FOR DRESSING

Grind/ blend sesame seeds, salt, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice together to a paste. Add more lemon juice/ water to adjust the consistency for dressing. Set aside.