【Meatless Tuesday】Warm Quinoa Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Feta Cheese

Mr. Bear and I were attending our dear friend's housewarming party last weekend.  The host requested that I bring over a warm salad and I came up with this Quinoa Salad with Roasted Vegetables.  I really liked it so I made it again for this week's Meatless Tuesday dinner.

Quinoa, pronounced as "KEEN-wah", is a high-protein seed that is traditionally grown and eaten in the Andes. Nowadays, it's a much sought after "superfood" due to its high nutritional qualities: gluten-free, cholesterol-free, high in fiber and contains all the amino acids that are essential to optimum health. Since it's so high in protein, quinoa is a great addition to any vegetarian or vegan diet. While it's not a typical ingredient in Asian cooking, it is definitely growing in popularity as I can find them in most large supermarkets in Hong Kong. It's easy to prepare and goes very well with a simple citrus dressing. Mr. Bear said it's so good he can eat it every day. I hope you will like this recipe and enjoy the salad as much as we do.

Serves 6 as appetizer, 2 as entree
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:
100g quinoa
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red pepper and 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and each cut into 8 wedges
1 red onion, peeled and cut into 1 cm thick rings
2 portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 zuchinni, halved and sliced
1 eggplant, sliced
1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
1 tablespoon chopped garlic

Dressing (A):
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
zeat and juice of 1/2 lemon, about 2 tablespoons
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
freshly crushed black pepper to taste

100g feta cheese, crumbled

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Cook the quinoa following instructions on the package, then drain well, transfer to a large bowl and let cool. Set aside.
3. While the quinoa is cooking, place the red onion and peppers in a large mixing bowl and toss well with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Transfer the vegetables in a roasting pan and roast for 15 minutes.
4. Place the mushrooms, zuchinni and eggplant in the large bowl and toss with another tablespoon of olive oil. Add the vegetables to the roasting pan and roast for another 15 minutes (i.e. 30 minutes in total), until the vegetables are tender and begin to brown on the edges.
5. In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for dressing (A).
6. Add the quinoa to the vegetables and toss well to combine. Drizzle the dressing and sprinkle the feta cheese over the salad. Serve warm.