Quinoa, Lentils & Tofu Salad – Asian Style

Once a week, I try to go vegetarian, mainly to give my liver a rest from all that meat processing during the week. In summer months, I try to make something light but still filling and nourishing for the body. In winter months, I try to make something warming and comforting, but still healthy and nourishing for the body.

After all these years, experimenting with salads, this is one of my all time favourite quinoa salad recipe and my go to salad recipe when I am pressed for time. This salad is so easy to make yet so delicious and satisfying. It is extremely nourishing for your body and contains all the good carbohydrates, protein, fibre, good fat as well as a low GI salad. This an Asian style salad with the typical soy sauce-sesame oil dressing.

I hope you enjoy this salad on Meatless Mondays or on any day you like. As always, let me know what you think of this salad 🙂

Ingredients

For the salad:

• 1 carrot, shredded;
• 3 cups baby spinach, shredded;
• 1cup cooked quinoa;
• 1/4 cup cooked brown lentils;
• 1/8 cup walnuts, chopped roughly;
• 2 tsp chilli flakes (or more if you prefer your salad spicier);
• 1 tbsp. sesame oil;
• 1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar;
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce or to taste; and
• Salt and pepper to taste.

For the tofu:

• 250g tofu;
• 2 garlic cloves, finely diced;
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce;
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar;
• 1 tsp sesame oil; and
• Dash of ground white pepper

Method

For the tofu:

1. Marinate tofu in soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, dash of pepper, diced garlic and sesame oil and set aside for 30 minutes;
   Tofu marinating in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and sesame oil.
2. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius;
3. In a greased or lined baking tray, place the marinated tofu and bake for 30 minutes (I usually flip the tofu after 15 minutes of baking, so that both sides of the tofu cooks evenly); and
4. Once baked, allow the tofu to cool and then, cut the tofu into bite size cubes.
   Cubed tofu!

For the salad:

1. In a large bowl, place all the salad ingredients as well as the baked cubed tofu and mix until well combined;
   All the salad ingredients ready to be mixed 🙂
2. Serve the salad in a bowl and enjoy 🙂

Happy cooking,

Suba

Xx