Quinoa salad with chickpeas | Glutenfreewhisk

 This quinoa salad with chickpeas is also known as Jennifer Aniston salad or hormone balance salad. The lemony flavor with softness of chickpeas and crunch from lettuce, cucumber, and quinoa is just perfect for a salad meal. This salad is again a complete meal bowl with protein, a lot of protein, carbohydrates, good fat and vitamins. A must try salad recipe that is simple as it only required soaking & cooking of chickpeas and quinoa, rest it also basic chopping and assembling. If you are using canned chickpea then this salad will be ready in just 20 minutes.

Instead of regular red onions I am again using my homemade pickled onions that have additional flavors to it that adds fun to this salad. This chickpea quinoa salad has become my absolute favorite and one of the reasons is that it is easy to make and it is tangy. The pistachio in the salad is quite an interesting addition. I have used Tata sampann salted and roasted pistachios, and they are just perfect with this tangy salad dressing. Another reason is that it is called Jennifer Aniston salad and this recipe is quite fulfilling and extended. Although I have made some tiny changes to the ingredients, but I absolutely love this Jennifer Aniston salad recipe and its ingredients.

The roasted cumin powder is completely optional in this recipe, but you must have realized by now that I am kind of obsessed with this ingredient and I add it in everything savory. Jeera is one of my favorite ingredients although chef Ranveer Brar says that jeera changes the color of the dish and his favorite is dhania because of the meatiness of dhania that it gives to recipes. But I can't help not adding roasted cumin powder. Every time I see it, I am like just a little will not do any harm, right? Anyways, I have used it, but it is optional. The additional flavor that my salad gets is from the pickled onions as I make it at home with apple cider vinegar, nigella seeds and fennel seeds and I have added all these in my salad as well while using my pickled onion. But again, if you are using regular red onions, chopped, it will not be a bad thing.

If quinoa salads have become your go to salads too then you can check other quinoa salads recipes on my website. Like quinoa salad bowl recipe that is sweet and tangy with tomatoes and beetroot. Or you can check my wrap version of a salad with beetroot quinoa wrap with tofu and veggies that is vegan and gluten-free meal idea.

I always use yoga bar quinoa which is clean, high in fiber and rich in protein. Also, the buy 1 get 1 offer is too tempting to ignore.

Salads are great for weight loss journey and when they are this tasty and healthy then even if you are not into weight loss these recipes will become your regular. Especially if you are gluten intolerant and eating something different is your constant craving because you can eat the regular junk anymore. These salad recipes are like your savior, giving taste and a much-needed change. Eating home-cooked food has never been better.

INGREDIENTS -

1 and a half cup boiled white chickpeas

1 cup boiled quinoa

1 cup chopped cucumber 

Juice of 1 and a half lemon

1 tsp dried mint leaves

3 lettuce leaves, chopped

Handful of chopper pistachios and some for garnish

50 gm tofu, diced

half a pickled onion

2 tsp neutral oil of choice or olive oil

salt, to taste

2 tsp Black pepper powder 

1 tsp roasted cumin powder

METHOD -

1. Soak quinoa overnight and cook it a little water and salt the next day. Similarly, soak white chickpeas and pressure cook them the next day with some salt. Allow them to cool a little.

2. Assemble the salad by mixing quinoa, lemon juice, chickpeas, lettuce, tofu, dried mint, oil, pickled onions, salt, black pepper, roasted cumin ad pistachio in a bowl.

3. Mix it all well and serve garnishing with more chopper pistachios. This quinoa salad with chickpea recipe is the best savory salad ever.

Note - You can avoid adding lettuce leaves and replace it with fresh mint and coriander leaves to follow the original Jennifer Aniston salad recipe and its ingredients. Also, you can replace tofu with feta cheese. I gave this salad my twist and made it a slightly different version.

 Check the full recipe on YouTube (Gluten_free_whisk) - Quinoa salad with chickpea recipe.

Quinoa salad with chickpeas | Glutenfreewhisk