Fibre and Protein lunchtime bowl your way
This recipe is purely a guide on putting together a great-tasting, healthy bowl of goodness at lunchtime. Feel free to make it your own and add in whatever you have to hand.
Servings: 4
Calories: 513kcal
Ingredients
Salad
- 1/2 butternut squash cut into 1.5cm/1/2" cubes
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 100 g edamame beans frozen
- 1/2 head of broccoli and the stem cut into small florets and cubes
- 100 g cooked quinoa see note below
- 250 g cooked chickpeas equivalent to 1 can
- 100 g quick pickled red cabbage click here for recipe
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 40 g walnuts
Tahini Salad Dressing
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 60 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small garlic clove grated
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 °C or you can do this in an air fryer.
- Place the cubes of butternut squash in a baking tray, sprinkle over 1/s teaspoon of sea salt and a good grinding of black pepper, and toss together with the tablespoon of olive oil (or the basket of the air fryer, adjusting timings as necessary) and roast for 25-30 minutes - turning halfway through.
- If you need to cook your quinoa, start now - see note below.
- In the meantime, make up the tahini dressing. Put everything in a jar and give it a really good shake. You want to ensure that the tahini has mixed well in the sauce. It might need a little encouragement by mushing it against the side of the jar.
- Boil some water in a medium saucepan, add your frozen edamame beans and cover. These take around 10 minutes to cook. Halfway through, throw on top your cut-up stems first and then the broccoli florets (note that the broccoli florets don't need to be submerged in the water). Put the lid on and continue to cook until the time is up.
- Take a large bowl, add in your chickpeas and quinoa. When your butternut squash and green veg are cooked, add these to the bowl. Finally, add in the pickled red cabbage, pour over the dressing and gently give everything a good stir and check the seasoning.
- Share out into 4 bowls and top with broken up walnuts and a sprinkling of chia seeds.
Notes
- To make quick and easy quinoa, add 85g of uncooked quinoa in a saucepan with 250ml of water and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes. At this point, the water should have been absorbed. Fluff the quinoa with a fork, pop the lid back on and leave for 5 minutes to steam.
- If you're not using a can of chickpeas and are looking for a recipe for cooked dried beans, then click here for my Dried Chickpeas Recipe (no overnight soak)
- I love walnuts and could eat them with my breakfast, lunch, and dinner - and sometimes I do! I buy broken walnut pieces, as there is no point spending money on whole halves when you're only going to break them up!
- You can swap the walnuts for almonds, macadamia, or hazelnuts.
- The various cooked elements of this salad keep really well sealed and stored in the fridge. Quinoa 4-5 days, roasted butternut squash and edamame and broccoli 2-3 days, chickpeas 3-4 days. It's therefore great to double up on quantities or stretch it out through the week. I do like this salad warm, not straight out of the fridge. I would therefore steam it quickly for a couple of minutes or warm it in the microwave.
- The dressing is really tasty. The quantities won't drown your salad, so if you like a little more, simply double up the ingredients, and whatever you don't use will keep for a few days.
Nutrition
Calories: 513kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Monounsaturated Fat: 15g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 522mg | Potassium: 1073mg | Fiber: 14g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 10755IU | Vitamin C: 105mg | Calcium: 213mg | Iron: 6mg