Hey guys welcome to The Vegan Corner.
If you were looking for a good way to eat your gluten-free carbs for the day,
you've just found it.
That's right: today's recipe is about a delightful Quinoa salad,
which really tastes out of this world.
As usual, the use of fat is reduced to a minimum in all our recipes,
making any of our preparations virtually fat-free.
The ingredients and other info for this delicacy are in the description down below.
To begin with, finely chop the garlic and the onions according to your preference.
For the garlic, the finer the better.
However, with the onions, the larger slices have the bigger taste.
Next, it is time to prepare the bell pepper, or capsicum.
Our preferred method involves first removing the stalk,
and then placing the pepper stalk side down,
which will make it impossible for it to roll around the chopping board.
We then start cutting it from the top
and slice it all the way down until you hit the board.
After that, simply turn the pepper and repeat the process
to obtain several flat slices which are easy to dice.
If you are wondering if this technique is one that we have borrowed from other chefs,
the answer is yes.
Many great chefs chop peppers this way.
Now, slice the carrots in half lengthwise, and then slice again each half into three.
Dice the carrots to the desired size.
The last ingredient to prepare is the zucchini, or courgette.
Simply slice it into three slabs lengthwise,
then cut each slab into three sticks and dice them.
We can now move to the cooking part of this tasty recipe.
Place a pan over a high heat, and add a few drops of oil to it.
You can avoid the use of oil altogether,
but we find it helps the garlic and the onions to caramelise a bit,
making the final dish somewhat tastier.
Before starting the cooking process,
make sure to have a glass of water on standby, as you'll soon need it.
Now, add the garlic and the onions to the pan.
Cook until soft and translucent, making sure to stir regularly
to prevent them from burning and catching to the pan.
Once done, add the carrots to the pan first,
as they are denser than the other ingredients, so they must cook for longer.
Cook the carrots for a couple of minutes stirring regularly,
and then add some water to the pan so that the ingredients will cook more evenly.
Once the water has almost completely evaporated, add the bell pepper.
Give the ingredients a good stir and add some more water.
We decided to add some black pepper here and you can too, should you wish.
The last ingredient to add is the zucchini,
which need very little time to cook and are also quite nice when still slightly crunchy.
There is no need to add water during this step,
as the heat of the other ingredients is more than enough to cook this vegetable.
Cook for about 5 or 6 minutes before turning off the heat.
The salad is meant to be eaten cold or at room temperature,
so we recommend to let the vegetable cool completely
before adding them to the cooked Quinoa.
Once the vegetables are at the right temperature,
transfer the Quinoa into a bowl large enough to accommodate all the ingredients
and add the cooked vegetables to it.
If you want to know how to cook Quinoa to perfection, have a look at our recipe.
You can find the link in the description down below.
Give the ingredients a good stir to properly combine them.
We also decided to add some zingy notes to our salad,
by grating in some lemon zest and some freshly squeezed lemon juice.
This really was a great addition, and we recommend trying it.
The last ingredient we added was some torn basil leaf.
Once all the ingredients have been added, stir one last time to complete the salad.
As you can see, we really like colourful dishes,
as we believe there is a reason that nature provides the most nutritious food
in simply amazing varieties of colour.
Sure, colour is not everything,
but it is certainly one of the elements that makes food appealing.
Enjoy the salad and if you liked this recipe please let us know in the comments
so that we can continue doing our work knowing that you actually like it.
To the next recipe.