This delicious green kale quinoa salad (aka greenoa) is the perfect make-ahead salad base. Top the salad with avocado, chickpeas, red onions, and an easy preserved lemon dressing.
Servings4
Equipment
- Food processor – see notes for hand-massaged kale if you don' have one.
- Large saucepan – with a tight-fitting lid
Ingredients
Quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa, I like red quinoah
- ½ teaspoon salt
Avocado & Chickpea Salad (Optional Variation)
- ½ red onion, thinly sliced lengthwise
- 1 large avocado
- 1 can (14.5 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- small bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves chopped
Kale & Almond Pesto
- 2 cups tightly packed kale leaves, destemmed
- 2 large handfuls of fresh basil, tough stems removed
- ½ cup raw almonds
- 1 lemon, 2 tablespoons juice and 1 teaspoon zest
- 1 teaspoon salt
- generous grind of black pepper
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 spring onions, green and white part sliced
To Serve (optional)
Instructions
- Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Once the water is boiling, stir through ½ teaspoon of salt and 1 cup of raw quinoa. Cover the pot and turn down the heat to achieve a light simmer. Cook, with the lid on, until the liquid is absorbed – about 15 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the quinoa to sit, covered, for another 10 minutes. Gently fluff the cooked quinoa with a fork and set aside until needed. (Or cook the quinoa according to packet instructions.)
- While the quinoa cooks, place the sliced red onion slivers in a bowl filled with water. Leave them to soak while you continue with the instructions.
- Roughly chop the kale and basil leaves, and add them to the bowl of a food processor. Add the almonds, lemon juice, zest, salt and pepper, and blitz until you have a rough paste. If you don’t have a food processor, see the notes for instructions on massaging the kale. Stir through the ¼ cup of olive oil and chopped spring onions.
- Stir the kale pesto mix through the fluffed quinoa. Finish with salt to taste and a generous grind of black pepper.
- Place the kale quinoa mix in a large serving bowl (or individual small bowls). Drain the onions and add them to the kale quinoa salad. Top with chickpeas, chopped parsley and sliced avocado, arranged in sections if you wish. Drizzle with the preserved lemon dressing – if using.
Notes
- If you do not have a food processor, you can massage the kale (to soften it) and chop your ingredients by hand.
- To massage kale: Place roughly chopped kale leaves in a large bowl, and add a tablespoon of olive oil and ½ teaspoon of salt. Use your hands to massage the kale leaves for a minute. Set the kale aside to soften for at least 15 minutes. Finely chop the basil and almonds, and mix together with the rest of the pesto ingredients. Continue with the recipe as set out.
- I like to serve this quinoa, kale, and chickpea salad with a zesty preserved lemon dressing. But if you're not in the mood to make a dressing, an extra squeeze of lemon juice works well. See the blog post for more salad dressing ideas.
- The basic kale quinoa salad keeps well in the fridge for 3 days. If you add the optional salad toppings, remove the avocado before storing – it will turn brown in the fridge.