Chick Pea Salad

Chick Pea Salad
I like adding legumes to salads, it gives them a really nice texture and the addition of the protein also creates a salad that can be eaten as a meal in itself, which I find ideal for workday lunches. This will keep well for a few days so make a batch and then you have lunch sorted for half the week.

Lovely to also serve alongside grilled meat or fish. And you probably have the ingredients in the fridge and pantry already!

This is simple to prepare with or without a Thermomix, the salad is chopped by hand, and the dressing can be mixed by shaking the ingredients together in a jar.

Chick Pea Salad
 
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Recipe type: Salads
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
Salad
  • 1 400g tin chick peas
  • ½ red onion
  • 3 tomatoes
  • 1 red capsicum
  • 4 spring onions
  • 1 large bunch fresh parsley
  • Small handful fresh mint
Dressing
  • 2 Tbsp tahini
  • 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 2 Tbsp water
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic crushed
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • salt and pepper to taste
Method
Salad
  1. Rinse and drain the chick peas.
  2. Peel and slice the onion thinly. Cut the tomatoes in half, remove the seeds and cut the flesh into small pieces. Slice the spring onions and capsicum into long thin strips.
  3. Chop the herbs.
  4. Combine all salad ingredients into a large serving bowl and pour the dressing over the top.
  5. Mix to combine
Dressing
  1. Combine all dressing ingredients in the Tmx mixer bowl and mix speed 6, 10 seconds.

 

 

Pomegranate Tabouli Salad

Pomegranate Tabouli
This is a loose variation on a traditional tabouli recipe.  The addition of pomegranate gives it really fresh twist.  Pomogranate are quite an unusual fruit, they are a beautiful red colour and are filled with sweet red seeds inside. To  remove the seeds, I cut the fruit into quarters and then scoop them out with a teaspoon. There is often a bit of juice that drips and dribbles so watch your clothing doesn’t get splattered. I have also read that if you bang the fruit with the handle of a wooden spoon before cutting it open, the seeds loosen and are easier to get out. I have not tried this method myself, but perhaps it is worth a try.
The seeds are quite sweet, almost tart,  and very juicy. And I love the gorgeous bright colour they add to this dish too.
Burghal is also known as cracked wheat. This is the traditional base ingredient for tabouli salad but you can also use cous cous. I have provided two options for dressing this salad. A traditional tabouli dressing is made of olive oil and lemon juice, which is lovely.  But as an alternative I like plain Greek yoghurt on this dish. It gives a nice tang. I have listed both options so use whichever you prefer.

Pomegranate Tabouli Salad
 
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Recipe type: Salad
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • ⅓ cup burghal (cracked wheat)
  • Boiling water - enough to cover the burghal in a bowl
  • 1 pomegranate
  • Small bunch fresh parsley
  • Small bunch fresh mint
  • 2 sticks celery
  • 150g snow peas
Dressing
  • Either
  • 1-2 Tbsp natural Greek yoghurt
  • or
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil and juice of half a lemon
Method
  1. Place burghal into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand for 10-15 minutes. After standing, thoroughly drain the water off and fluff with a fork.
  2. Slice celery and snow peas, shred herbs, and de-seed the pomegranate.
  3. Add all ingredients together with the cooked burhgal a mix to combine.
  4. Dress with either natural yoghurt or Olive oil and lemon juice. I like a yoghurt dressing, but oil and lemon is more traditional.

 

Brown Rice Salad

BrownRiceSalad copy
This really is the best rice salad. I have made it over and over again, and it never fails to impress.
If you have time up your sleeve, I suggest you make this in advance and let it sit in the fridge for at least a few hours or overnight.  The flavour is even better after it rests for a while.

I have listed the salad ingredients in cup and spoon measures rather than grams, as I tend to prepare the vegetables while the rice is cooking, to have it all ready to mix.

For a really simple dinner you can also eat this warm, like a ‘fried’ rice. Add a poached egg on top and a dash of sweet chilli sauce, and dinner is served.

If you try this recipe and enjoy it, please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear your feedback. Happy cooking!

Brown Rice Salad
 
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Recipe type: Salad
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
Rice
  • 900g water
  • 200g of brown rice
Salad
  • ½ red capsicum
  • 1 cup unsalted cashews
  • 3 spring onions, sliced thinly
  • ½ cup currants
  • large handful of fresh coriander
  • ½ cup snow peas sliced thinly (optional)
Dressing
  • 1 Tbsp sesame oil
  • 2 Tbsp olive Oil
  • 2 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp lemon or lime juice (about half a lemon or one lime squeezed)
Method
Rice
  1. Weigh rice into the steaming basket of the Tmx, rinse under cold water.
  2. Pour water into Tmx bowl and set steaming basket into place.
  3. Cook the rice at Varoma temperature, speed 4 for 30 minutes.
  4. Once cooked, remove basket, tip rice into serving bowl, fluff up with a fork and place into the freezer to cool down for 10-15 minutes. Tip any remaining cooking water down the sink.
Salad
  1. Chop the capsicum into small pieces either by hand or in the Tmx at speed 4 for just 3 seconds.
  2. Measure the rest of the ingredients, and roughly chop the coriander by hand or with the capsicum in the Tmx. Thinly slice the snow peas if adding.
Dressing
  1. After the rice has cooked, add all dressing ingredients to the Tmx and combine speed 4-5 for 10 seconds to mix.
Prepare Salad
  1. Once rice has cooled down add the salad ingredients to the rice, one at a time. mixing each one through as you go. Then add the dressing in two batches, mixing well in between.
  2. Let the salad sit in the fridge before serving.

 

 

Honey Mustard Chicken Salad

HoneyMustardSalad copy
This is such a tasty meal, and lovely to eat on a warm summer day when you really don’t feel like facing a plate of steaming hot food for dinner.
It does not take too long to prepare, once you have the chicken and sweet potato cooking you can go and do a few other things and then come back to assemble it all.
Last time I made this my local shop had run out of bocconcini (how rude!) so I substituted with mozzarella instead that I just tore into small pieces.

When preparing I suggest you follow the steps in the order I have listed, so it all comes together at the same time at the end. So get the sweet potato into the oven first, then set the chicken to steam. Then do the dressing and shred the chicken, by which time the sweet potato should be done.

If you have any leftover chicken you can save it for sandwich fillings or freeze for later. Any leftover dressing can be kept in the fridge to use on other salads. It tastes lovely and can be easily used to flavour other types of salads.

Warm Honey Mustard Chicken Salad
 
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Recipe type: Chicken & Pork
Serves: 4-5
Ingredients
Chicken
  • 2 large chicken breasts
  • 2 cloves garlic
Salad
  • Bag of baby spinach leaves
  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 220g tub baby bocconcini
  • Punnet of cherry tomatoes
  • Pine nuts to taste
Honey Mustard Dressing
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 2 Tbsp seeded mustard
  • ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
  • ½ cup olive oil
Method
Prepare the sweet potato
  1. Turn on the oven to 220 degrees.
  2. Peel and dice the sweet potato into small cubes. Drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper.
  3. Place in oven and cook for 25 minutes or until soft and slightly caramelized on the edges.
Steam the chicken in the Tmx
  1. While the sweet potato is cooking prepare the chicken.
  2. Cut the chicken breasts in half on the horizontal plane. So you get four large thinner pieces of chicken.
  3. Place them in to the top tray of the Varoma.
  4. Fill the water level in the bowl to 1L and add garlic cloves to the water.
  5. Set Tmx to steam at Varoma temp, 25 minutes, speed 2.
  6. Once cooked remove the tray and set aside. Wash the bowl, then make the dressing.
  7. Decant the dressing into a jug and without washing the bowl add the chicken back in and shred on reverse, speed 4 for 4-5 seconds.
Dressing
  1. Add all dressing ingredients to the bowl and mix speed 7-8 for 10 seconds.
Assemble Salad
  1. Arrange a layer of spinach leaves on each serving plate, add shredded chicken, bocconcini (torn in half), warm sweet potato, cherry tomatoes (halved) to each serve and sprinkle with pine nuts.
  2. Drizzle dressing over salad and enjoy!
Notes
If you prefer your chicken in larger pieces reduce the shredding time to just a couple of seconds.

 

Black Bean Salad

BlackBean copy
Black beans are also known as black eyed peas. They have a lovely dense creamy texture when cooked and they are full of protein, fibre and low in fat.
Often they are cooked in hot dishes such as soups and Mexican style stews and hot pots. But they are a great addition to salad too. Their protein content turns a salad into a meal in one!

Previous to making this recipe we had not cooked them in the Thermo, so we decided to give it a go. It was (of course) very easy. The cooking time is about the same as using a stove top method but of course the advantage of using the Thermo is that you can walk away and do other things without having to worry that anything needs stirring or is going to boil over.

We prepared the beans to soak in the morning, left them all day, then cooked in the afternoon when we got home from work. The dressing is also prepared in the Thermo but the rest of the salad is chopped by hand. Simple, tasty and good looking! The colour of the beans looks great against the other salad ingredients. This would be a nice salad to prepare for a shared gathering.
We had ours as a side salad with a BBQ at home and enjoyed the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Black Bean Salad
 
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: Salad
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 cup (170g) black beans
  • Water for soaking
  • 400g water for cooking
  • 1 420g tin corn kernels
  • 1 avocado peeled and diced
  • 1 red capsicum diced
  • 3 tomatoes, diced
  • 4 spring onions sliced
  • handful of fresh coriander
Dressing
  • Juice of one lime
  • ⅓ cup olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tsp salt
Method
  1. Place the beans into a bowl (or Thermoserver) and cover with water. Leave to soak for at least 6 hours.
  2. Strain the water off and then tip the beans into the steaming basket (the rice basket). Pour 400g water into the Tmx and set to cook for 90 degrees, 1 hour, speed 2-3. Check to see that they are tender at the end of the cooking time and cook for longer if needed.
  3. Remove and tip the beans into the salad bowl.
  4. While the beans are cooking prepare the rest of salad ingredients by dicing the and chopping the tomatoes, onions, capsicum, coriander and strain the corn. Add to salad bowl.
Dressing
  1. Place garlic in Tmx and chop speed 7, 2-3 seconds.
  2. Add the rest of the dressing ingredients and mix speed 5 for 2-3 seconds until combined.
  3. Pour the dressing over the salad, stir through and serve

 

Bean Sprout Salad with Citrus Dressing

BeanSprout copy
This is a very simple salad recipe, but the dressing really brings it to life. The citrus gives it a nice tang. You can also use this dressing on a coleslaw instead of mayonnaise or on potato salad.
If you don’t like walnuts try pine nuts instead.
You can make the dressing ahead of time and store it in the fridge to pour over just before serving.
Perfect for summer!

Bean Sprout Salad with Citrus Dressing
 
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Recipe type: Salad
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
Dressing
  • 40g olive oil
  • Juice of ½ large orange
  • 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
  • ½ tsp sesame oil
  • Handful of fresh coriander leaves
  • 2cm fresh ginger (peeled)
  • ½ tsp sugar
Salad
  • 2 carrots, peeled and sliced thinly
  • 3 cups bean shoots
  • 1 cup snow pea sprouts
  • 100g snow peas (sliced)
  • 1 red capsicum sliced into thin strips
  • ½ cup walnuts roughly chopped
Method
Dressing
  1. Place all ingredients into the Tmx bowl and combine speed 8, 20 seconds.
  2. Remove from bowl and pour into a serving jug or jar.
Salad
  1. Mix all prepared ingredients in a large serving bowl and drizzle dressing over just before serving.
Notes
The dressing can be made up to a day ahead and stored in a sealed container or jar in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
This is dressing is also nice served over coleslaw for an alternative to mayonnaise.

 

Lentil & Beetroot Salad

LentilBeetroot

I must admit I was a little unsure about this salad when my husband first described it to me – but it is really good. He created it as a variation of a recipe he found on the back of a packet of lentils, he tweaked a few ingredients and converted it for the Thermomix.
If you are not familiar with cooking or eating lentils I urge you to give this a try, the dressing combined with the nutty flavour of the lentils is delicious. Add in the sweetness of the beetroot and salty feta and you will be going back for seconds. This keeps quite well for a couple of days in the fridge, and is perfect for work lunches. Very quick to just scoop out a serve in the morning and and take in the lunchbox, the protein content of the lentils makes it a meal in itself.

You could easily use fresh beetroot for this recipe instead of tinned. We have some growing in our garden at the moment so I plan to try this with fresh beetroot as soon as they are ready to pick! Just use as much or as little beetroot as you like, I think 2 large beetroot would be enough. Peel and cut it into 5cm chunks and steam in the Varoma tray above the lentils as they cook.

Lentil & Beetroot Salad
 
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Recipe type: Salad
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 200g (1 cup) black lentils
  • 1000g water
  • ½ red onion
  • generous handful fresh parsley
  • generous handful fresh coriander
  • 3 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 clove garlic
  • Salt & Pepper to season
  • 1 x 425g tin of baby beets - drained and beets cut in half
  • 80g Feta Cheese
Method
  1. Place onion, parsley, coriander, olive oil, mustard, lemon juice, garlic and salt & pepper into the Tmx bowl. Combine speed 5-6 for 10 seconds.
  2. Remove the dressing from the bowl and set aside (but don't clean the bowl).
  3. Rinse lentils (and check for stones) and place into the Tmx steaming basket.
  4. Add water to Tmx bowl, set steaming basket in place and cook the lentils 30 minutes, 100 degrees, speed 1.
  5. Place the cooked lentils into a serving bowl and mix through the baby beets and dressing.
  6. Top with crumbled feta cheese.
Notes
You could also use fresh beetroot for this recipe - just peel and cut them into chunks and place in the varoma to steam while the lentils cook. 2 large beetroot would be plenty for this recipe (or 3-4 smaller ones)