Thai Quinoa Salad

Alright people! I found a recipe for a Thai Quinoa Salad and it was just a few changes away from being nice and whole foodie.  I made a few swaps and additions and it resulted in this fabulous salad!!  I made it for our first UCLA tailgate of the year this past weekend and it was a hit!  It is one of those dishes that everyone takes a bite and goes WOW! What is in this???  You can’t quite but your finger on it.  That is probably because there are lots of little things that add up to big umami flavor in this salad.  It is very easy to throw together once you get all of your chopping done!  We also had some steak, orzo salad and grilled asparagus for our meal, it was fab!  I will also note that all of the men raved about the salad… that is a rare thing!!  This can easily be a side dish or a whole meal.  To transport to the game I chopped everything ahead of time and brought everything in separate bags as well as the dressing that I made in a protein shake shaker bottle!  Best trick ever!

Thai Quinoa Salad

Enjoy!!

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Thai Quinoa Salad


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 carrot, peeled and shredded
  • 1 cucumber, chopped
  • 1 cup frozen edamame, thawed (or fresh!)
  • 6 green onions, chopped
  • 12 cups shredded red cabbage
  • 3 cups baby kale
  • 4 teaspoons fish sauce
  • 3 limes, juiced (about 3 tablespoons)
  • 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
  • salt & pepper
  • pinch of red pepper flakes
  • ½ cup chopped peanuts
  • ½ cup chopped cilantro
  • ¼ cup chopped basil

Instructions

  1. Rinse the quinoa under cold water and cook in a medium saucepan according to package directions. Remove from pan and let cool.
  2. Add the quinoa and vegetables to a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the fish sauce, lime juice, coconut sugar, coconut oil, sesame oil and red pepper flakes until the sugar has dissolved. Taste for sweetness and for heat and add more to taste. Then add any salt and pepper the dressing may need. Pour the dressing over the quinoa and vegetables and stir to combine. Sprinkle the cilantro, basil and peanuts over the salad and stir lightly. Serve once dressed.