Black Quinoa Salad with Celery Seed Dressing

This fantastic salad is ideal as a light lunch, and serves 2. Quinoa makes a great alternative to rice or cous cous, and is high in protein, a good source of fibre, and free from gluten. Black quinoa tastes the same as white quinoa, and has the same nutritional profile, but of course adds a striking colour to any meal.

We used citrus fruits in this salad, but you can use cherry tomatoes, artichokes, nuts or other salady ingredients. Coconut sugar should be added to taste – around 3 or 4 teaspoons – to offset the acidity of the lemon juice and the citrus fruits. Coconut sugar has a rich taste, like a subtle version of muscovado sugar.

Organic Black Quinoa 1kg (Sussex Wholefoods)

100g of black quinoa

Organic Celery Seeds 100g (Sussex Wholefoods)

1 tsp celery seeds

Ground Mustard [Yellow] 50g (Hampshire Foods)

1 tsp mustard powder

Organic Lemon Juice 250ml (Sunita)

150ml lemon juice

Organic Coconut Sugar 1kg (Sussex Wholefoods)

3 or 4 tsp coconut sugar

Organic Smoked Paprika 100g (Sussex Wholefoods)

1 tsp smoked paprika

Dark Green Lentils in Water, Organic 400g (Biona)

1 can of organic puy lentils

Fine Pink Himalayan Salt 1kg (Sussex Wholefoods)

A pinch of pink salt

Other Ingredients

2 oranges
2 avocados
1 grapefruit

Method

1) Rinse the quinoa thoroughly several times. Quinoa can often have a bitter coating, so this rinsing will wash it all off.
2) Put the quinoa in a saucepan with a fitting lid.
3) Cover with boiling water, to a depth of 5cm above the level of the quinoa.
4) Bring to a simmer, then turn the heat down. Put on the lid and leave on a low heat for 15 minutes.
5) Empty the can of lentils (including water) into a small saucepan, and heat for 3 minutes.
6) Drain the lentils.
7) Mix the lemon juice, sugar, celery seeds, mustard, paprika and salt in a bowl. Whisk thoroughly.
8) Chop the oranges, avocado and grapefruit.
9) Check that the quinoa is cooked. When quinoa is fully cooked, it will go fluffy with little white “threads” visible. Look for the threads and you will know that it is cooked!
10) There should be no need to drain the quinoa if cooked using this method. Keep cooking on a low heat until all of the water has evaporated.
11) Finally, combine the quinoa, lentils and fruit. Pour over the dressing and give it a final mix.