Quinoa Salad with lentils

From Kokori's Kitchen

After my visit in Germany, I'm equipped with a MOUNTAIN of marzipan and chocolates. Now, generally speaking, that's A Great Thing(tm), however, if you're fighting your weight like I always do, it means a few less-carb-more-veg meals need to be considered.

And because I had half an avocado left from last night's salad (which accompanied a teensy-tiny portion of mac'n cheese), I decided to make a Quinoa salad for lunch.

Quinoa Salad for 2

1/2 cup quinoa (cook like rice, 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water - I use my microwave rice cooker, but any other method you're comfortable with is fine)
1/2 cup green lentils, cooked (take care not to overcook them, or they'll turn to mush ... 10 - 15 minutes do the trick for me. I also add a pinch of salt, half a tsp of white wine vinegar, a small clove of garlic and one thai chili to the cooking water to give them a bit more taste)

1/4 cucumber, diced
5-8 cherry tomatoes, diced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 avocado, diced

Dressing:

1 tblspoon chopped parsley
1 tblspoon white wine vinegar
1/2 tblspoon (brown) sugar
1 tblspoon water
2 tblsoons good olive oil (I have the BEST EVAR. Yes, it's that good - a friend gets it from her parents, who make it from the olive trees in their southern french backyard. That's how good it is.)
small clove of garlic (optional)
a pinch of salt
1 tblspoon fish sauce (substitute light soy sauce if you don't want to use it or don't have any)
a few drops of lemon juice

Start by cooking the quinoa and the lentils, so they can cool a bit.
While they're cooking, mix the vinegar, sugar, water, finely chopped garlic, and olive oil.
Dice the cucumber, add to the dressing and sprinkle with salt. Let sit for min. 30 minutes, so the cucumber can "bleed" some of it's water into the dressing. Add diced onion and parsley.
By now, the quinoa and lentils should be cooked and cooled, and the other ingredients nicely chopped up.
Mix all well together, add fish sauce, lemon juice and freshly ground pepper, stir again, and enjoy.

Wild times

So I've been a bit lazy with my blogging here. And now I can't even post photos as my camera doesn't like the cheapo batteries from the pound shop, and refuses to let me transfer my pics. Ach, well - I'll post them later. Update: Added picture.

What have I been up to? Well, still struggling with my tummy being unreasonable. Some days are fine, others it seems I only need to look at dairy and feel miserable. And frankly, given some developments in other areas of my life, I don't need more misery. No, Sir, thank you, Ma'am.

Which encourages me to give all sorts of dairy a wide berth. My cookery of late included red lentil soup, roast beef topside with porcini risotto, slow-cooked ribs (I don't know what it is, but I often crave ribs as comfort food), home-made pizza, spinach with pineapple and tomato, and stuff I forgot.

Today's recipe will be the red lentil soup - a great starter or light lunch, easy and quick to make, and a good one if all you've got left is the larder and some sad veggies in you fridge!

Red Lentil Soup

1 cup of red lentils
1 medium potato
1 medium to large carrot
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
1 clove of garlic
1 red chili (or chili powder to taste)
1 pound-sized slice of fresh ginger
1/2 ltr of vegetable stock
salt, pepper, coriander, cumin

Bring the stock to a boil, add diced potatoe and carrot, let simmer for about 5 mins, add the garlic, chili and ginger, add lentils, let simmer till the lentils are cooked. Add tomato puree, puree with stick blender or in blender, add spices to taste. You might have to add some more stock. Serve - naan goes very well with it.

Try cooking lemon grass or lime leaves with the stock - don't forget to remove before blending, though. You can add other veggies, such as leek and celery, or leave out the potatoe, or the carrot ... or you can try other lentils, beans, etc. instead