a nourishing, healthy winter salad with purple kale, black quinoa, orange slices and avocado with a refreshing orange dressing
in a medium size pot bring the water or broth to a boil. If you are using water add 1 tsp of salt. If using broth this adds a deeper taste to the cooked quinoa
in the meanwhile rinse quinoa thoroughly and add it into the to boiling water or broth and bring it back to a soft boil for about 5 minutes.
now turn down the heat and let it simmer for about 15 minutes
turn off the heat and let it sit for about 10 more minutes until all the broth/water is fully absorbed and you can see the white curly tails showing up. now fluff up the quinoa with a fork.
measure 1 C of the cooked quinoa into a bowl, set aside and let it cool a bit
wash the orange with hot water, pad dry and start to zest the whole orange.
while you mindfully zest the whole orange take a deep breath and enjoy this uplifting and refreshing aroma of the orange oil released by the peel.
juice the orange and use 1/2 of the zest for the dressing. The rest of the zest you can use to make citrus salt (you find on my blog).
in a mason jar mix the orange and lemon juice with the orange zest. Let it steep for about 10 minutes to infuse the juice with the aroma of the zest. Now add all other dressing ingredients, close the lid and shake until it is perfectly mixed. (You also can use an immersion blender)
in a small pan dry-roast the walnuts for a few minutes until fragrant. But watch them not to get burned and aside to cool.
de-stem and wash the kale. Spin dry and cut in stripes
in a bigger bowl add 1 Tbsp. of walnut oil, a pinch of salt and the kale. Massage the kale with your hands for about one minute until it is soft and shiny
cut the orange segments (as shown above)
wash and slice the cucumber. I like the Persian cucumber, they are delicious, small, crunchy and have no seeds. But you can perfectly use an English cucumber.
cut the avocado in halves, remove the pit and peel and slice the halves.
after the quinoa has cooled a bit, mix the quinoa, kale, orange segments, cucumber slices and roasted walnuts in a bowl. Top with about 2/3rd of the dressing and mix.
Divide the salad in 4 bowls, arrange the avocado slices on the side and sprinkle the pomegranate arils on top and add the rest of the dressing.
Guten Appetit
To add more protein
You can top the salad with baked tofu or roasted chickpeas