As much as I love cooking and exploring new recipes, it might come as a surprise that I’m a bit of a ‘Boring Brenda’ when it comes to my day-to-day meals. I tend to get fixated on 4-5 meals, and then alternate between them. At the risk of getting further into a rut, I decided to shake things up. The result was a fantastic change of pace, especially as I hadn’t being feelin’ quinoa and chicken for a while. After making the following recipe, they’re both back on board.
Where superfoods are concerned, this meal hits the jackpot. It also captures a variety of textures and flavors and above all, it’s to the point:
Quinoa and Shredded Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
- 25g quinoa
- 75g chicken
- Brocolli
- Green beans
- Carrots
- Aubergine
- 2 cloves garlic
- Half an onion
- Salt to taste
- Bay leaf
- Black peppercorns
- 300 ml boiling water
- 8-10g flaked almonds
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate seeds
- In a pot,sautee the garlic and onion as per usual…i.e. till browned
- Add in the boilng water, chicken, green beans, bay leaf and black peppercorns. Leave it to boil for 7-10 minutes.
- Add in the broccoli and carrots and leave to boil for a further 1 minute. Remove ingredients from the water and shred the chicken.
- Use the chicken broth from above to cook the quinoa in.
- In a separate pan, stir fry thinly- sliced aubergine till soft and then refrigerate with the ingredients above.
- Once chilled, mix in the almond flakes, pomegranate seeds, & salt and serve on a bed of lettuce.
- Take a bite and then utter an ‘mmmmm’ 🙂
Veggie alternative: replace chicken with puy lentils and vary your cooking time accordingly.