Toasted Sesame and Crunchy Veggie Favourite Quinoa Salad

Heating the raw grains inside a 390°F (200°C) oven before boiling gives this Favourite Quinoa Salad a pronounced nutty flavor. You mix the cooked grains with shredded carrots, shelled edamame, and crisp red cabbage. A dressing featuring mayonnaise covers the vegetables, and wasabi peas broken into a coarse powder provide a crunch.

The quinoa

Tri-color quinoa is a blend of white, red, and black varieties. White quinoa tastes neutral. The red and black varieties taste earthier. You spread the raw grains on a metal baking sheet and heat them in the oven for 15 minutes. You need to stir the grains halfway through the cooking time. This step browns the quinoa and gives the grains a roasted character before they boil.

Empty the toasted quinoa into a strainer and leave the grains under a running tap for 10 seconds. This brief wash strips away the natural saponin coating, stopping the seeds from tasting astringent or sudsy.

You transfer the rinsed grains to a saucepan with water. You simmer the mixture over medium heat, lower the stove to low, and cover the pan until the grains absorb all the liquid.

You must move the pan off the stove and let it sit with the lid on for 10 minutes. The grains absorb the last bits of moisture and become fluffy during this rest. You will end up with watery quinoa if you skip this resting period.

You take the cover off the pan and fluff the grains with a fork. You spread the hot grains out on a wide flat tray. A wide surface area brings the temperature down fast. The grains need to cool completely before you mix them with the fresh vegetables.

The vegetables

The salad uses finely diced cucumber, shredded carrot, and chopped bell pepper. You can use Lebanese cucumbers and leave the thin skin on. Long English cucumbers have a tougher skin that you need to peel, but their seeds are solid enough to leave alone. You need to scrape the seeds out if you use short cucumbers. The wet seeds will make the salad watery.

The recipe also calls for a cup of shelled edamame. You need to boil frozen edamame for about five minutes whether it comes shelled or still in the pod.

The sesame dressing

The dressing relies on toasted sesame oil. This brown oil tastes much stronger than yellow untoasted sesame oil. Japanese mayonnaise adds creaminess and takes the place of a portion of the liquid oil.

You mix the oils with light or all-purpose soy sauce. Dark soy sauce tastes too strong for the other ingredients. Sweet soy sauce makes the dressing too sweet.

You can modify a few ingredients in the dressing depending on your pantry:

• Cider vinegar, sherry vinegar, or champagne vinegar can replace the rice wine vinegar.
• Any neutral-flavored oil can replace the Japanese mayonnaise in equal amounts.
• A mixture of one-half teaspoon sugar, one tablespoon rice wine, and one-half tablespoon mayonnaise can replace the mirin.

You place all the dressing ingredients into a jar and shake them together.

Assembling the salad

You combine the cooled quinoa, bell pepper, cilantro leaves, carrot, edamame, and cabbage in a large bowl.

You pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss everything together to coat the ingredients evenly.

You crush wasabi peas into a coarse powder. The crushed wasabi peas provide a sharp crunch against the soft grains. You sprinkle these crushed peas over the top of the salad with toasted sesame seeds. You can toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet until lightly browned to bring out a nutty aroma before adding them to the bowl.

Serving and storage

You can plate this recipe as a standalone meal or portion it out as a side dish. Plan to serve the salad when it is neither heated nor chilled.

The meal remains edible the following day without refrigeration, though the mixture develops a softer texture much like slaw. To maintain the crunch when preparing the dish early, store the dressing and the garnishes in their own containers away from the fresh vegetables. You can then combine all the parts just before you sit down to eat.