Quinoa-Beet Salad with Chili-Ginger-Lime Dressing...& the Sunny Side of Fried Egg!

 

Honestly, I’ve never cooked with beetroot; pickled beet is also my least favorite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After browsing the net to learn more about the benefits of beetroot (from organicfacts.net and livestrong.com), I have come to the conclusion that I’ve been missing the most awesomeness vegetable for decades. For me, it was unacceptable! So, I went to my local supermarket and grabbed a bunch of 3-midium size beets home to play with.  

With no plan, as usual, of how I wanted to cook with beets, I actually started with what I know best and love most, beet smoothie.   

Since quinoa is very trendy and many recipes cooking with quinoa can be found everywhere on many food blogs, I’ve decided to make quinoa salad with beetroot for my lunch today. I’ve cooked quinoa before but the hubby was not a fan of quinoa so I thought I would be eating this salad with only me and myself. What a treat!

 You know, you can add any of your favorite vegetables and dressing into the salad as you wish; however, the dressing for my salad has a little kick of spicy from chili garlic sauce that I use. If you don’t like spicy, you can just reduce or skip it all together and use the rest of the ingredients. However, I found that the little spicy from chili makes me want to keep eating even more. And a gorgeous sunny-side-up egg makes this salad even more luxurious, if you will.

What you need:   2-3 servings

1/2 cup dried quinoa
1 cup water
1/2 cup diced red beet
A pinch of salt
2 small Persian cucumber, diced
2 small yellow sweet pepper
1 tbsp. finely chopped green onion – for garnish

 *sunny-side-up egg

For dressing:

1 tbsp. Asian chili garlic sauce
2 tbsp. fresh squeeze lime juice
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. finely grated garlic
1 tsp. finely grated ginger

How to:

- Add quinoa, water, beet and salt in a small pot and cook over medium high for 5 minutes and reduce to simmer and continue on cooking with the lid on until all the water is absorbed – for about 10 minutes. Set aside and let it cool.
- Add diced cucumber and yellow sweet pepper into cooked quinoa in a salad mixing bowl and set aside.
- Whisk together all of the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad bowl, and gently toss together to mix well. Sprinkle with green onion to garish.
- Serve as lunch with any protein of your choice or serve as a side dish.

Enjoy!

 

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