Quinoa and Carrot Salad with Honeyed Yogurt Dressing

Since May is National salad month I've been posting different way to celebrate this great event. The Kale and Tomato Salad, the Green Salad, and the Soba Noddle Salad. Salads are actually categorized into several types, for example a starter, a main, raw veggies, cold ingredients, nuts, fruits and seeds, etc.

Finishing up leftovers is always a challenge for me. I had some extra quinoa from Saturday night and was debating whether I should go savory or sweet. After leafing through the cookbook "Everyday Quinoa", I decided upon this salad which is a little bit of both. The dressing is a bit tangy from the Greek yogurt, but is sweetened with local honey. The cardamom, cumin and curry add an exotic flavor and are whisked along with the lemon juice and red wine vinegar for the acids. The base of the salad is the quinoa and carrots which are coarsely grated and then mixed with dried fruit and herbs. This is a beautiful and tasty salad.

Ingredients:

For salad:

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
1/2 cup sliced roasted almonds
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3 medium carrots (coarsely grated)
1/4 red onion (cut very thin)
2 scallions (thinly sliced)
1 long red chili (de-seeded and chopped)
1/2 flat leaf parsley (chopped)
1/4 cup fresh mint (chopped)

For dressing:

6 cardamom pods
1 cup Greek plain yogurt
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lemon (juiced)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teraspoons curry powder,
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

To prepare:

To Make dressing:

Break open cardamon pods in a mortar and pestle, then grind seeds to a fine powder.

In a small bowl add the cardamom and the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Place quinoa in a large bowl with the carrots, raisins, cranberries, onions, scallions, chili, parsley and mint. Mix well.

Add a couple of spoonfuls of dressing and serve the rest on the side. Garnish with a few almonds and sprigs of parsley.

This recipe has been slightly adapted from "Everyday Quinoa", by Rena Patten.