Superfood Salad With Quinoa & Roasted Sweet Potato

Serves : 6 Persons

Time Served : 40 Minutes (plus cooling)

Level of Difficulty :  Not too tricky

Ingredients

700 g sweet potatoes

1 pinch of dried chill flakes

1 pinch of ground coriander

1 small pinch of ground cinnamon

olive oil

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

200 g Quinoa

320 g broccoli

35 g mixed nuts, such as walnuts, almonds and Brazil nuts

1 pomegranate

extra virgin olive oil

juice of 2 limes

1 splash of balsamic vinegar

40 g mixed sprouts

1 punnet cress, (use a mixture of varieties if possible)

1 fresh red chill

1 bunch of fresh coriander

1 ripe avocado

To serve:

1 punnet of salad cress

20 g feta cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 200ºC or 400ºF. Scrub and chop the sweet potatoes into 2.5cm chunks. Place into a roasting tray with the chill flakes, ground coriander and cinnamon, a drizzle of olive oil and a little salt and pepper, then toss well. Spread out into an even layer and place in the hot oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden and crisp.

Meanwhile, cook the quinoa according to the packet instructions in a medium pan of boiling salted water. Click off and slice the broccoli into small florets, then halve and finely slice the stalk. Place into a heatproof colander and rest it over the quinoa pan. Cover and steam for 3 minutes, or until just tender. Once cooked, drain and rinse the quinoa under cold running water, then leave to cool along with the broccoli. Remove the sweet potato from the oven and leave it to cool, too.

Meanwhile, toast the nuts in a dry frying pan over a medium-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a pestle and mortar and crush lightly. Halve the pomegranate and squeeze the juice from one half into a large bowl. Add 3 times as much extra virgin olive oil, the lime juice and balsamic vinegar. Whisk well and season to taste.

Add the cooled broccoli and sprouts to the dressing, then snip in the cress. Roughly chop the coriander (stalks and all), finely slice the chill and add to the bowl along with the quinoa and sweet potato. Toss well, spread out on a serving platter, then scoop out and dot over the avocado flesh. Bash the reserved pomegranate half with a wooden spoon so the seeds come tumbling out and scatter these over the platter along with the nuts, snip the cress on top, then serve with a crumbling of feta cheese.

p.s. : Quinoa is a grain crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, as it is not a member of the true grass family. As a chenopod, quinoa is closely related to species such as beetroots, spinach and tumbleweeds.