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.

24 comments:

sunita said...

Loveley salad...so, are you back from vacation...if not, hope you're having a great time :-)

Cilantro said...

Lovely salad and as always your pic looks too good.

Sangeeth said...

healthy recipe and a great pic as usual :)

Rachna said...

wow that looks like wholesome goodness....:)

FewMinute Wonders said...

I am big Quinoa fan. Your recipe is very simple and tasty looking at the ingrediets. I have not tried sprouting these grains before so will try one soon. the photos do justice to the salad.

Priya said...

I bought some millet from the bulk bin of my local organic store after your previous post on it. But then, as usual I forgot all about it and last night in my sleepiness I mistook it to be quinoa and started cooking it. 15 mins and it still had no semblance to quinoa and only then did it strike me that I had actually bought home some millet! Will try this salad now, wouldn't matter if I mixed up the two :))

Vaishali said...

I love quinoa but have never tried sprouting it before. This is something I have to do now: thanks for the idea.
Lovely salad, Suganya. It looks quite delicious.

Tee said...

wow! looks so good and healthy! I have yet to try quinoa...i think this is a great recipe to try :)

Vanamala Hebbar said...

lovely salad

Meeta K. Wolff said...

This looks so good. I love quinoa and love the idea of sprouting them!

Lisa Turner said...

Quinoa and millet are two of my very favorite grains. What a lovely salad. I will have to try this.

Unknown said...

The quinoa looks great after sprouting.Nice recipe and very healthy too.

Unknown said...

You give wonderful healthy recipes Suganya..

Nirmala said...

So whats quinoa in tamil ? The salad is very colorful. And this makes a whole meal by itself! And can I cook Thenai arisi for whole grains?

notyet100 said...

looks so yum,..new for me..

Shreya said...

Hi, I learnt something new today! Quinoa is a totally new word for me, and I looked it up on wikipedia, and on answers to listen to how it is pronounced. I am not sure if I have ever had it before or seen it, but since I know Ragi is finger millet and not red quinoa (am I right?), it is unlikely that I have come across this whole grain. Looking forward to more entries for JFI-Whole grains:-)

Deepthi Shankar said...

looks yummy N very healthy too

Mandira said...

this looks delicious suganya. I also sent you my entry, hope you received it.

Nirmala said...

Thats a lovely bowl of salad. Yesterday it did not accept my comment for some reasons! And Sug what do u call Quinoa in tamil?

Raaga said...

hey... nice salad... though I doubt one gets quinoa here :) I have been trying to make salads regularly.

Sabina said...

Yummmmmm. I will definetly make this. Thanks!!

Hitashi said...

Your blog is so impressive! I visited for the first time... I simply loved it.. Amazing Pictures and great Recipe's..

Anonymous said...

Whats the name of Quinoa in Tamil??

Unknown said...

I have also been trying to find the tamil name for quinoa. My dietician suggested i eat quinoa. But i have no idea what its called in tamil...

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