Quinoa Salad with Roasted Chickpeas

I love a grain salad & this Quinoa Salad is one of our favs! The dressing is from Bon Appetite & is just delicious.

I used what I had in the refrigerator to make this Quinoa Salad, so you can change-up the vegetables if you want. There is a combination of fresh vegetables cut up quite small & some crispy roasted chickpeas…I spiced the chickpeas & roasted them until they were nice & crunchy. All of this combined with the dressing really made a spectacular dish. If you do not like quinoa, use any grain you prefer…. couscous, rice, barley….This was so good!

You can also add some chopped kale or spinach to really round out this dish!

This recipe is Vegan as is but if you want some feta cheese added would be great! AS you can see this recipe is very versatile! Easy to make it your own!

Here is the recipe

Quinoa Salad with Miso-Turmeric Dressing

1 can of chickpeas, drained & pat dry

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp cayenne or to taste

1 cup quinoa or any grain of your choice, uncooked

1/2 half red pepper, diced

1/2 orange pepper, diced

1 carrot, shredded

1 stalk of celery, sliced thinly

Method for the Salad

1. Put the drained & dried chickpeas onto a lined baking sheet, toss them with the oil, salt & cayenne. Roast in a 450f until crispy…check often, takes about 20 -30 minutes  let cool. I did mine at 400f for 30 minutes & they were soft still so I increased the temperature to 450f for 10 min & some had gotten a bit too crispy….
2. While the chickpeas are roasting, cook the quinoa or other grain of your choice, according to the package & let cool. It does not have to be cold but not hot….
3.  When the quinoa is cool, add the red pepper, orange pepper, carrot & celery,
4. Add the cooled chickpeas
5. Add the Miso-Turmeric dressing, as much as you like, I had some left over
6. Toss to combine

Here is the recipe for Bon Appetit

Miso-Turmeric Dressing

Ingredients

1/3 cup unseasoned rice vinegar

1/4 cup mirin

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 tbsp finely grated carrot *** I used a microplane

2 tbsp white miso

1 tbsp finely grated ginger *** I used the jarred stuff. I use Christopher Ranch Organic Chopped Ginger from the health food store…it is a product of the U.S.

1/2 tsp ground turmeric or 2 tsp finely grated peeled fresh tumeric *** if you use fresh numeric I suggest you put gloves ones it can stain your hands yellow…also anything it comes in contact with!

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Method

1. Whisk all of the ingredients together  *** I always make my dressings in a jar so I did with this as well & there was a chunk of miso at the bottom of the jar when I poured out the dressing..so I would suggest you do as the recipe says and whisk it or use a food processor to combine….I bet the dressing would be even better had I mixed all of the miso in  :)))
2. The recipe says that this dressing will stay for 5 days in the refrigerator

Enjoy!