Thai Quinoa Salad

Years ago, I purchased a cookbook from  Cafe Beaujolais  in Mendocino.  It had a recipe for "Bun Bun Noodles" which I absolutely loved, but refused to make due to the heavy carbo load of the pasta in the dish.   I recently made a recipe that reminds me of that recipe but used quinoa instead of pasta.  Here is my version of  “Crunch Cashew Thai Quinoa Salad” from Ambitious Kitchen with a few small variations of my own.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups uncooked quinoa
• 1 bell pepper
• 1/2 red onion diced
• 1 cup of shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup sliced green onions
• 1/2 cup cashews or peanuts
• fresh lime juice
• 1-2 cups shredded cabbage, preferably red for color (or leafy greens like spinach)

For dressing:

• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon red vinegar 
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon avocado oil

I recommend cooking the quinoa a day ahead of time to allow it to cool naturally the counter and then refrigerate it so that the salad will be cool once you’ve completed the preparation. 

I like to cook quinoa in a rice cooker.   I always add 2 cups of water for every cup of quinoa just like I do for cooking rice.  If you don’t have a rice cooker, you can cook your quinoa over the stove use like you would rice in a saucepan.  Bring water to boil in the saucepan, add uncooked quinoa, reduce heat to a simmer and cover with a lid     When the quinoa is light and fluffy it is done; that will take about 15 minutes.  Let the quinoa cool to room to room temperature, then store in a covered container in the refrigerator over night.

To make the dressing, add peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, ginger, sesame oil, lime juice, oil and red vinegar into a boil and whisk with a whisk or fork until the peanut butter is completely blended.  If the 

Garnish the salad with chopped nuts, green onions and optionally lime wedges if you have them.