Favorite quinoa salad
With smoked tofu, avocado and tomatoes
Now, this salad is fantastic for many reasons. Apart from the wholesome nutritional benefits, it is quick to make, perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and great as a takeaway meal on the go to eat at work or after work-out, or to take with you to a summer picnic or park gathering.
Nutritionally, it’s loaded with a variety of plant protein, coming from quinoa, tofu, and the nutty ‘crunch’. Second, it’s almost screaming ‘healthy fats!!’ at you, through the addition of the avo, cold-pressed oils, and all that ‘the crunch’ offers. Feel free to add all of the suggested seeds and nuts, as each one has some special super powers – especially worth noted the omega 3’s in the walnuts and flax, the zinc in the pumpkin seeds, vitamin E in sunflower seeds, and the selenium (so necessary for detoxification as well as production of thyroid hormones) in the brazil nuts.
Further supporting the liver in all the heavy detox and digestive work it does for us every.damn.day. is the zest of the lemon, as well as broccoli sprouts and coriander leaves, which just mop up the heavy metals and toxins in our blood, to excrete them safely in one of the detox pathways! Anything green really does our liver good, so don’t skimp on the salad leaves.
This mega salad supports digestion and elimination by providing a variety of fiber, as well as feeds the most-needed healthy bacteria through prebiotic foods like raw garlic and onion, and probiotic foods like the sour kraut! The sprouts contain enzymes, which furtherly have a go at breaking up the food, so it can be better assimilated for our body to use.
Adding mint will give more of a summer-vibe salad, and adding warming spices like cumin or coriander seed, will transform it into a more of a cozy-but-healthy night-in type of a meal.
Yeah, I know – what are you waiting for?
Ingredients: Feeds 2-3 people
1 cup of uncooked quinoa
1 ready-to-eat avocado
7-8 cherry tomatoes, or 1-2 regular tomatoes
1 cube smoked tofu
1 onion
1-2 garlic cloves
Half a lemon + zest (organic lemons only!)
Salad leaves of choice (lamb’s lettuce, rucola, romaine salad, wild greens etc)
Broccoli sprouts
Fresh herbs of choice (coriander, parsley, mint etc)
The crunch (sunflower, pumpkin or hemp seeds/ walnuts, brazil nuts)
1-2 TBSP of freshly ground flax seed
Cold-pressed oil of choice (olive oil, flax oil, sesam seed oil, hemp seed oil etc)
Salt and pepper
As a side: unpasteurized sour kraut
Process:
- Start off with cooking the quinoa in 2 cups water, and leave to cook covered over very low fire for about 13 minutes, then switch off gas and leave covered for the water to soak in.
- Peel and slice the onion into fine dice, put about 1-2 TBSP into your salad bowl, and keep rest on the side.
- Cut the tofu into +/- 1cm dice. Heat up some oil on the pan, and throw the tofu cubes to fry up a bit. When slightly brown, add the onion and fry until gently caramelized.
- Slice the avo in half, de-seed it, slice into cubes in the peel, and then scoop it out with a spoon into your salad bowl.
- Wash and slice tomatoes into quarters or cubes, depending on their size, and add to the avo.
- Peel the garlic, and chop or grate it finely into the bowl.
- Zest the lemon into the bowl, and squeeze the remaining lemon into the bowl as well, to prevent browning of the avocado.
- When the tofu is ready, add to the bowl.
- When quinoa is ready, add to the bowl and mix well.
- Add the remaining ingredients – the sprouts, flax, salad leaves and fresh herbs (leave some greens for decoration)
- Add salt and pepper and drizzle with oil. Mix through.
- Test for taste, whether it needs more lemon, oil, or salt.
- At the end, sprinkle with the nuts and seeds, and the remaining green fluff like herbs and leaves.
- Now all that’s left is to enjoy and nourish your fantastic body!