I’m a sucker for a good salad. I know what you’re thinking – a dietitian who loves a salad, how groundbreaking. But I promise you – rabbit food will never feature on this blog. Once you get out of your head that salad means boring, plain & leafy, you will open yourself up to endless possibilities. Salads are so versatile and can be as creative as you want them to be. I love adding in as many of my favourite veggies as I possibly can, throwing in some protein and healthy fats, tossing it all in a delicious dressing and sprinkling on a source of crunch. So sorry, but if you deem salads are boring – you aren’t doing it right.

Mango and avocado isn’t what you’d call a traditional pairing, but yet it just works so well. The sweetness and juiciness of the mango contrasts perfectly with the nuttiness from the wild rice and creaminess of the avocado, so each bite is as delicious as the last!

I make this in pretty large quantities, as the wild rice takes a while to cook, and I like to take this with me for lunches when I’m out and about. 

Mango and Avocado Quinoa Salad

Recipe by Katie Wilson at Salt & Honey

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

This summery salad couldn’t be farther from the traditinal boring garden salad. It’s creamy, nutty and sweet, plus contains a good source of gut and heart-healthy fibre – so both your tastebuds and tummy will be satisfied! It’s not the most conventional of salads, but it really, really works.

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa

• 1 cup wild rice

• 2 x mangos

• 2 x avocado

• Large handful bean sprouts

• Bunch fresh parsley

• Bunch fresh coriander

• For the Dressing

• 1 cup plain fat free yogurt

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar

• 2 tbsp lemon/lime juice

• Pepper to taste

Directions

• In a large saucepan, bring 4 cups of water to the boil. Add wild rice and simmer for 30 minutes. Then add the quinoa, top up the water and cook for a furter 20-25 minutes until cooked. Allow to cool.
• Chop parsley and coriander as roughly or as finely as you prefer. Then, cut avocado and mango into cubes of varying sizes. Mangos are ridiculously easy to prepare if you know how. A simple google search will save you much confusion!
• Combine ingredients into a bowl, and stir in bean sprouts. Top with sunflower seeds or pine nuts.
• For the dressing, simply combine ingredients and drizzle over top. Oil and yogurt take a while to mix, but keep going and eventually they will amalgamate nicely*.

Additional Notes

• *Another option is to omit the avocado from the main recipe and instead blend it into the dressing instead. Both ways are nice, but I personally prefer having chunks of avocado throughout!