As well as brimming with nature's wonder foods, the Superfoods Salad is a total pleasure to eat, with nuts, herbs and vegetables supplying layers of crunch and vibrant flavour. It's got a bit of everything: roast sweet potato, edamame beans, toasted almonds, quinoa and a soy, ginger and lemon dressing.
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Serves 4
Make ahead: The dressing can be made up to a week ahead and kept in an airtight container in the fridge. All the elements for the salad can be made up to three days ahead. The quinoa can be cooked, cooled and mixed with the herbs, edamame and spring onions and kept in an airtight container in the fridge, with the sweet potato in a separate container. The nuts and seeds can be toasted, cooled and kept in a small airtight jar up to a week ahead. Allow the sweet potato to come up to room temperature before assembling the salad as below.
Ingredients
Ginger-soy dressing
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons gluten-free soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil4 cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated
2 teaspoons honey
160g quinoa
350ml water
450g sweet potato, peeled and diced into 2cm dice
0.5 teaspoon sumac
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
2 spring onions, ends removed and finely sliced
1 large handful continental parsley, leaves only, chopped roughly
1 large handful mint, leaves only, chopped roughly
25g slivered almonds, toasted
10g sesame seeds, toasted
0.5 teaspoons salt
100g baby spinach
300g frozen, podded edamame beans*, blanched in boiling salted water
Method
For the dressing, mix lemon juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, grated ginger and honey. Taste for balance of sweet, sour and salt and make any adjustments you’d like. Set aside in a sealed container in the fridge.
Rinse the quinoa well in a strainer and then measure in a measuring cup. Measure 1.5 times that volume of water, pour it into a medium sized saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat. Add the quinoa, turn the heat right down – use a simmer pad if you have one - cover and simmer for 12 minutes. Turn the heat off and let it stand for another 10 minutes. If the water hasn’t yet all been absorbed, rest for another 5 minutes. Uncover the quinoa, fluff it up with a fork and refrigerate, covered, as soon as it’s stopped steaming.
Preheat the oven to 180C. Toss the sweet potato in olive oil with the salt and sumac and roast for 30 minutes or until golden brown and tender. Set aside to cool.
To assemble the salad, mix the quinoa with the spring onions, parsley, mint and edamame.
Arrange the baby spinach leaves on a platter, slicked with a little of the dressing. Toss the quinoa with the rest of the dressing and arrange on top of the spinach with the roast sweet potato on top. Scatter with the toasted almonds and sesame seeds and serve.