How to Make Quinoa Salad

This was one of my first inventions that I was really proud of! It’s a great summer dish, and a really satisfying salad.

You will need:

• a sharp knife
• a chopping board
• a saucepan
• a large mixing bowl
• a kettle
• a measuring jug

and the ingredients (for 4 people):

• 200-250ml quinoa
• 1 stock cube
• garlic
• coriander / cilantro
• 2 onions
• 2 carrots
• frozen peas, such as petits pois
• 16 cherry tomatoes
• cucumber

Start by washing the quinoa and leave it to drain. (I wrote in more detail about quinoa here, so if there’s anything that’s unclear please check it out!)

Place your saucepan on a gentle heat, and dice your onion. (You can find more detailed instructions here: onions). Add a little oil (less than a teaspoon is fine), then your diced onion, garlic, and coriander.

Boil a kettle and mix together the stock, according to the instructions. Add the quinoa, then the stock, to the saucepan. (Remember: use three times as much liquid as quinoa.)

Dice the carrots (you can find more detailed instructions here), then add them to the saucepan.

Put a lid on the saucepan, and let it boil gently for 20 minutes.

While the saucepan is boiling, dice your tomato and cucumber. (You can find more detailed instructions here: tomato, cucumber.) Put the frozen peas, and the tomato, in a large mixing bowl, but keep the cucumber separate for now.

Once the quinoa has absorbed all the liquid, it should be cooked.

Add the cooked ingredients to the mixing bowl. This will thaw out the peas, and cool the quinoa mix at the same time. Finally, add the cucumber.

I like this salad best when it’s just made and still slightly warm, but if you’re not going to eat it straight away remember to chill it in the fridge.

I originally designed this recipe as an accompaniment to falafel, but garlic and coriander are such versatile flavours that it goes with nearly anything! You could add some beans, have it with a burger, or even diced ham!

If you make quinoa salad with this recipe, I’d love to see a picture of your finished dish!

How to Chop a Cherry Tomato

If you haven’t already, please make sure you’re familiar with basic knife safety before starting this tutorial. (link)

While I love tinned tomatoes for cooking with, my favourite tomatoes for salads or finger food are sweet little cherry tomatoes.

Like onions, tomatoes have smooth, slippery skin that can make them a little tricky to chop. So it’s important to use a good, sharp knife, preferably with a serrated blade. If you’re using a smooth knife I would start each cut by piercing the tomato with the tip of your blade – a great place to do this is the little green spot at the top of the tomato, where it would connect to the vine.

You can eat cherry tomatoes whole (minus the vine), but I find most of them are just a tiny bit big for my mouth. So for finger food, I like to halve my cherry tomatoes.

To halve cherry tomatoes, hold your tomato steady with a thumb and finger, and cut straight down between them.

For mixed salads, though, I like to dice my tomatoes so all the flavours mix together. The easiest way to do this with cherry tomatoes is to cut them into eighths. Start by cutting them into halves just as above. Then, place each half on its cut face to cut into quarters.

Tomatoes are a great way to add pops of colour and flavour to plates of salad. And these sweet cherries are often popular with kids too!