Recipe: Chickpea Quinoa Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

When I first went gluten free, summer was approaching, and I had to find a dish to take along to the barbecues that people were having all over the place. Additionally, barbecues have never been particularly vegetarian-friendly, so I wanted to bring a dish that provided me with something full of protein, so I was guaranteed a satisfying and healthy meal.

I combined chickpeas and quinoa with a few veggies, and a quick and tasty homemade dressing. When I came across this week's Friday Foodie Fix, hosted by The W.H.O.L.E. Gang, featuring quinoa as the secret ingredient, I thought, what better time to share this very simple recipe?


Chickpea Quinoa Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

Ingredients
3/4 cup quinoa (red or white, or a combination)
1 300g can chickpeas, rinsed
1 red pepper, diced
a few handfuls of mixes lettuce leaves

Dressing
liquid honey (agave or maple syrup could possibly be substituted to veganise!)
lemon juice
extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard of choice

Method
Rinse quinoa well and cook in twice the amount of water until the white curly bit is coming away, and the white centre has almost disappeared (you can't see this with red quinoa, my trick is to cook both colours together so you can see when it's done). It is best not to overcook - you want the quinoa to remain whole in the salad.

Assemble hot or warm quinoa in a bowl with chickpeas, red pepper, and lettuce.

To make the dressing, place equal quantities of liquid honey (heated for 10 seconds in the microwave), lemon juice, and olive oil in a small jar (eg. an old mustard jar).

Add mustard.

Shake dressing and use to taste - in my experience, more dressing is required when the salad is served cold than when warm!


Chickpea Quinoa Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing (While the photographed salad contained feta, the salad is much better without.)