My dear husband looooveees filling up my library bookshelves with awesome cookbooks and magazines. The other week he came home with a vegetarian magazines, since he couldn’t find vegan ones, and my gosh them magz have tons of awesome recipes that are so easy to be veganized or just adjusted to what I have in the pantry. One of them was this following mandarin salad I am sharing.
The original recipe was for orange salad and requires tons more (fresh) ingredients that I don’t have, so I used my own tastebuds ? It turned up pretty good.
I liked the “salad” as is without the dressing, I hardly like salad with dressing anyways except if it was Asian sesame dressing, nom nom, but the boys liked it with either. Don’t skimp on the toasted almond, so, so, so good ?
Ingredients
- 1 c quinoa
- 2 c water
- salt to taste
- 1 tin mandarin, drain, reserve juice
- 2 tbsp dried cranberries
- 2 tbsp raisins
1/4 c slivered almonds, toasted to brown (at 425 F for 8-12 mins, make sure brown but not burnt)
- lettuce
- 1 English, cucumber, wash clean, cut into sticks or cubes
Dressing
- a bunch of coriander, slice thinly
- 1 green onion, slice thinly
- 1 tbsp finely chopped white onion/sweet Vidalia Onion
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 tsp wine vinegar (optional)
- 1/2 tsp each ground cumin and ground coriander
How To
- Bring water to boil, season with salt, stir in quiona. Cook for 5 mins, then simmer covered for 15 min, until cooked and water evaporated, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in raisins and cranberries, cover pot back with the lid, let it stand until dried fruits softened up and mixture is cool to room temperature
- Lay washed lettuce on a plate, place some cucumber
- Mix mandarin pieces into quinoa, spoon onto lettuce
- Sprinkle with toasted almond
- Just before serving, mix in dressing if using
I packed some in mason jar for my husband to eat at work.
- cucumber
- quinoa
- mandarin
- lettuce
- almond
- dressing in separate container
Mandarin Salad with Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 1 c quinoa
- 2 c water
- salt to taste
- 1 tin mandarin drain, reserve juice
- 2 tbsp dried cranberries
- 2 tbsp raisins
- 1/4 c slivered almonds toasted to brown (at 425 F for 8-12 mins, make sure brown but not burnt)
- lettuce
- 1 English cucumber, wash clean, cut into sticks or cubes
Dressing
- a bunch of coriander slice thinly
- 1 green onion slice thinly
- 1 tbsp finely chopped white onion/sweet Vidalia Onion
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 tsp wine vinegar optional
- 1/2 tsp each ground cumin and ground coriander
Instructions
- Bring water to boil, season with salt, stir in quinoa. Cook for 5 mins, then simmer covered for 15 min, until cooked and water evaporated, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in raisins and cranberries, cover pot back with the lid, let it stand until dried fruits softened up and mixture is cool to room temperature
- Lay washed lettuce on a plate, place some cucumber
- Mix mandarin pieces into quinoa, spoon onto lettuce
- Sprinkle with toasted almond
- Just before serving, mix in dressing if using
