Kale and Quinoa Super Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing

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Kale and Quinoa Super Salad.

What’s so super about this salad? Well, it tastes super to start off. Not only does the salad itself contain a great mix of ingredients from kale and parsley to quinoa and slivered almonds, but it is also topped with my new favourite Lemon Tahini Dressing. It’s definitely easy on the spectrum in terms of putting it together, too. Who doesn’t love an easy-to-make dish? 

What really makes this salad super is that it’s packed with good-for-you nutrients. Those of us in the nutrition world would call it “nutrient dense”. I’m not here to tout this salad as a superfood salad, as I’m not too keen on using the term “Superfood” (check out my previous article Superfood or Super Sham). No, it’s super because it’s very good for you and it tastes good (that's the most important part, right?). And really, Kale and Quinoa good-for-you salad, just doesn't have to same ring to it, does it?

So, what’s so good about this salad? What kind of nutritional punch does it pack? Well, it contains vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, calcium, vitamin E, folate, and phosphorus. It also contains almost 5 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein  per 1 cup serving. I think that’s pretty super, don’t you?

 Ingredients

Salad

  • 6 cups kale, washed and stems removed

  • 2 cups parsley (flat-leaf or curly-leaf), washed

  • 1 ½ cups cooked quinoa, cooled (about ½ cup uncooked quinoa)

  • ½ cup slivered almonds

 Dressing

  • 2 tbsp (30 ml) tahini

  • 1 tbsp (15ml) dijon mustard

  • ⅓ cup (80ml) lemon juice, fresh squeezed (juice of ~ 1 ½ lemons)

  • 2 tbsp (30ml) olive oil

  • 2 tbsp (30ml) water

 

Method

Kale quinoa salad Kate Chury Calgary Dietitian

  1. Cook quinoa. Let cool. 

  2. Combine dressing ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside.

  3. Finely chop washed kale and parsley. I prefer to use the pulse function on a food processor to get a fine, evenly chopped final product (just make sure not to over chop with the food processor; if you pulse too much you’ll get a wet clump of greens).

  4. Combine cooked quinoa and slivered almonds to the kale and parsley mixture.

  5. Add Lemon Tahini Dressing. Slowly combine dressing with salad, mixing a bit of the dressing at a time to get desired coverage. You may have extra dressing leftover, if so, keep leftover dressing in sealed container and store in fridge for 3-4 days.

Makes 8 servings.