Quinoa - Millet Salad

Featuring two of my favorite grains, quinoa-millet salad has become a regular in my house these days. Its fairly quick and can easily be prepared for a large group of people. The salad and the dressing is inspired by this Heidi Swanson’s recipe. Light, refreshing, yet filling, there are 101 ways to make this salad. You can serve it with this simple lemon-mustard vinaigrette or with a generous helping of roasted fall vegetables or… well, you get the idea.

To add more nutritional value to this already protein rich salad, I sometimes use sprouted quinoa. As Hannah writes, sprouting quinoa is easy and so much fun, in spite of its miniscule size. Instead of using a sprouting jar or cheesecloth, I use a strainer to sprout the grains effortlessly. This is how I do it.

Take quinoa in a fine mesh-strainer. Rinse thoroughly. Take a bowl into which the strainer sits snugly. Fill the bowl with water, place the strainer with quinoa and let the grains soak for 8 – 10 hours. Later, empty the bowl of water and place the strainer back on top of it. Any residual water will gradually percolate into the bowl, maintaining the right level of moisture for the grains. Leave this setup for 2 days, rinsing only every 12 hours in between. The grains would have sprouted and is ready to be used. Sprouted quinoa cooks faster than in its raw form.

Quinoa – Millet Salad
(Serves 2)

Ingredients

Millet – ½ cup
Quinoa – ½ cup (sprouted as given above, if desired)
Green beans – 3 cups, chopped into 1 inch pieces
Chickpeas – 1 can, rinsed (about 1 cup)
Red onion – ½, chopped
Walnuts – a handful, toasted
Cilantro – chopped
Pepper

Dressing

Tahini – 2 rounded tbsp
Yogurt – 2 rounded tbsp
Garlic – 1 clove
Zest and juice of a lemon
Red pepper flakes – 3 pinches
Water – if needed to thin out
Salt

Method

Pressure cook millet and quinoa with scant 2 cups (1½ cups, if quinoa is sprouted) of water for 2 whistles. Or cook on stovetop for 20-25 minutes until soft. Fluff and cool slightly. Blanch beans in salted water for 5-6 minutes. Switch off the flame, add rinsed garbanzo to absorb the salt and warm the legume lightly. Drain and reserve.

In a large bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Add cooked grains, green beans, garbanzo, red onion and cilantro. Mix together, and check for seasoning. Serve warm with a crack of black pepper. This salad can also be served cold.

This is my second entry to JFI – Whole Grains. I have been notified that the event logo was not being displayed properly. This has been corrected now and I apologize for the inconvenience.