Recipes: Gingery Pineapple & Melon Quinoa Salad

 

If we had a summer in Britain, then this fruity, gingery and zesty quinoa (pronounced "keen-wah") salad would be the taste of it. While we don't have that much sunshine here, let's make believe while eating this.

Packed with health and vitality, this Gingery Pineapple & Melon Quinoa Salad is extremely versatile. It makes a wonderful gluten-free addition to any buffet table, can be eaten as a filling main course (bearing in mind also that quinoa is a complete protein), and is a good side salad to be had at vegan barbecues.

If you don't know how to cook quinoa, it's pretty simple as it's just like cooking rice, really. You need to put in a double the quantity of water to quinoa, and cook for about 15 minutes (keeping an eye on it) until the water is absorbed and the germ separates from the seed.

This is a lovely, colourful and tangy dish, and the tanginess is made tangier by the addition of mango powder (amchoor). You can spice it up with some sliced red chilli pepper if you like, and some fresh corinader (cilantro) too. However, as I often use both of those, I tried to do something different with this salad.

Fresh mint is better but use dried if you don't have. I'm not the Kitchen Police, and I won't arrest you if you do change things around a little.

Gingery Pineapple & Melon Quinoa Salad

Serves 4 as a main course, more as a side dish

2 cups / 300g cooked quinoa, chilled (approx ¾ cup of dried quinoa)

2 cups / 300g diced pineapple

½ cup / 100g melon (such as gala or cantaloupe)

1 red bell pepper, chopped small

3 spring onions, chopped finely

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 heaped tablespoon ginger, grated

1 tablespoon walnut oil (olive would be fine, if you do not have walnut)

1 teaspoon amchoor (mango) powder

1 teaspoon dried mint or 1 heaped tablespoon fresh mint

½ teaspoon salt

Fresh black pepper, to taste

1. In a large salad bowl, mix the chopped pineapple, melon, red pepper, and spring onions.

2. In a small mixing jug, make the dressing by combining the oil, minced garlic, ginger, lime juice, mango powder, mint, and salt, and whisk with a fork until well-mixed.

3. Pour the dressing over the quinoa and mix thoroughly.

4. Serve alone or with a leafy green salad, or even with a curry or vegan barbecue food or burgers.

Comments

[Iain]

Think this will be perfect after a hot day at the beach on Sunday (last one we will get this year probably).
Where do you get amchoor powder from? Not heard of it before.

[Andrea - Chocolate and Beyond]

Hi Bowers! I got the amchoor powder from an Indian supermarket - I think they sell it in most of them as I have seen it a few times. I think it's one of those things that if you've not known about it before, you 'miss' it, but once you know, you'll probably find it in most Indian grocery stores. Oh, I also found this website where you can buy practically every spice there is! http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/

[Iain]

Thanks, there are a couple in Canterbury I can try tomorrow.
And changed my display name. :) I logged in via Facebook and it just picked up part of my email add...

[Andrea - Chocolate and Beyond]

Ahhh :) Well, hello then Iain! And yeah, hope you find the amchoor powder. It's good in other dishes too...

[Iain]

Hi, Found the Amchoor powder. Loved the salad, wonderful mix of flavours and perfect after a hot day at the beach. Not sure about feeding 4-6 as a main course though - I ate the lot myself!!! :)

[Andrea - Chocolate and Beyond]

Did you eat it all Iain? Haha! Mine lasted about 4 meals with some additional salad bits :) But glad you liked and found the powder! And if you come up with any other interesting uses for amchoor, let me know please!

[spicewala]

Hello friends!!Even, I also loved amchoor powder and I usually order my all spices from spicewala onine store You can also visit there site https://www.spicewala.co.uk/