Quinoa Salad with Roasted Beet, Carrot and Mung Bean

This healthy quinoa salad is packed with vitamins, fibers, amino acids, and proteins that will help you get ready for autumn.

Autumn has officially arrived which means we will cook more with earthy root vegetables like beetroot, carrot, radishes, and turnips. Autumn is the perfect time to start eating more heavy and warmhearted meals. As summer has just left us and we are still not fully ready for heavy winter meals we made this healthy quinoa salad. It’s light but packed with rooted vegetables and proteins that boost our health and energy!

The health benefits of mung beans

Mung beans are often eaten in plant-based diets because they offer the body lots of protein, fibers, and amino acids. They are a legume and tend to have a higher amount of protein than other plants. Vegetarians are encouraged to eat these legumes as their source of protein. Another great benefit from mung beans, shown by research, is that they are sustainably raised.

Mung beans are a great source of B-vitamins that help improve brain health. Vitamin B6 also known as folate, is also essential before pregnancy to help prevent abnormalities.

Important is to always soak the mung beans in water 9-12 hours before cooking. It makes them easier to digest and shortens their cooking time. If you soak large quantities and then freeze packages of 100 grams you will always have soaked beans in your freezer which you can cook quickly and add to your meals.

Protein booster

This salad is a real protein booster. Not only the mung beans are a great source of protein, but also quinoa is a grain rich in fibers and proteins and so are pumpkin seeds. Especially when you don’t eat meat this is a great meal to boost your energy. Quinoa is a whole grain and compared to other plant-based proteins, quinoa is a whole protein like meat and fish. This means it contains all nine essential amino acids that our bodies need to stay healthy but cannot make on their own.

Love for pistachios

Our love for pistachios is quite obvious, we add them to spreads, desserts, energy balls, and dressings. They have a mildly sweet flavor and taste amazing with the bitterness of lemon zest and freshness of cilantro. This dressing is made out of love for pistachios and lemons and was just an experiment that turned out pretty good. Chop the pistachios, but not too much to keep this lovely crunchy bite. It will give the salad more structure. Mix all the ingredients together and add more pepper, salt, or lemon to your liking. If you love pistachios as much as we do, this dressing tastes also amazing to add to roasted carrots as a side dish.

We love to eat it with grilled halloumi or sausages, but without it also makes a complete meal. Enjoy!

Quinoa Salad with Roasted Beets, Carrot and Mungbean

Servings 2 people

Prep Time 45 mins

Ingredients

For the roasted veggies

• 4 carrots
• 1 beetroot
• 1 tbsp olive oil

For the quinoa

• 100 grams quinoa
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp cayenne or chili powder

Salad

• 100 grams mung beans (soaked)
• 200 grams cherry tomatoes
• 3 spring onions
• 4 garlic cloves
• pumpkin seeds

For the dressing

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lemon (juice and zest)
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• pepper and salt
• ½ cup peeled pistachios chopped
• ½ cup fresh cilantro chopped

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180℃. Meanwhile prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the carrots in half lengthways, reserve half the carrot tops. Coat with olive oil for roasting and place them on the baking sheet. Cut the beetroot in the same sizes and coat with the olive oil, place on the baking sheet. Make sure there is enough space between all the veggies, this will help to roast them evenly.
• Place the veggies in the oven and roast for 35 minutes or until soft and starting to char lightly.
• Meanwhile cook the mung beans in a pan with water for about 20 minutes.
• Use a saucepan to cook the quinoa. First fill it up with 2 times the amount of quinoa, for 100 grams, add 200 ml water. Cook the water on medium heat and stir in the spices while you bring it to a boil. Add the quinoa to the with spices infused boiled water and cook for about 15 minutes (check the packet instructions). If you wish you can add some salt and pepper or half a cube of vegetable broth for extra flavor.
• Chop the carrot tops and mix with the tomatoes and spring onions. Finely chop the garlic and add it to the salad. Mix the salad with the quinoa and the mung beans in a large bowl. Add pumpkin seeds as much as you like.

To make the dressing

• Chop the pistachios and the cilantro. Zest and juice the lemon. Mix the lemon zest, juice, olive oil and vinegar well until combined. Add the pistachios and cilantro. Taste and add pepper and salt to your liking.
• Mix half of the dressing with the quinoa salad. Place the roasted veggies on top and sprinkle with a bit more dressing and pumpkin seeds.

Course: dinner, Lunch

Keyword: Healthy, Protein Rich

Sources: Newswise