I made another quinoa dish for dinner tonight, but this time it had a fairly unique dressing. I'm not sure I would have thought to use raw carrots as a base for a dressing, but that is exactly what this Warm Quinoa and Broccoli Salad with Carrot-Ginger Dressing used as one of the flavor components!
You can use your favorite method for the broccoli - but to save on dishes, we actually just set a steamer basket on top bubbling quinoa and removed it when the veggies were bright green and still crisp-tender. While you wait for those two to finish, a blender makes quick work of the interesting dressing.
Raw carrots, minced fresh ginger, canola oil, seasoned rice vinegar, soy sauce and toasted sesame oil are the ingredients that compose the dressing - besides tinting it orange, the bright carrots added a thick body to that dressing which made it cling well to the salad. The bite from the fresh ginger was almost a little overwhelming for me, but Jeff quite liked it and thought it was just the right amount. Just two teaspoons of the toasted sesame oil added a rich and full flavor without loading the dish with unnecessary calories - our pantry was void of sesame seeds for an unknown reason, but some toasted on top would have been a nice way to finish off this salad.
That's a different dressing but that looks good. I love quinoa. So fast to cook.
ReplyDeleteSince we both like bananas I just sent you a new recipe. Who knows, you may be the first one to try it.
Very interesting ... I went to a healthy restaurant this weekend and ordered a salad that had a carrot-ginger salad. I liked the idea of pureed carrots as a base but thought the ginger was too much for me. Maybe we have similar tastes, Joe! I may have to tinker around with the idea, using this dressing as a base.
ReplyDeleteHelene - Thanks! I got the recipe.
ReplyDeleteTracy - I think we do! I guess it was just the "raw" factor of the ginger that got me... just a little too much for my tastes!