Thai Quinoa and Red Cabbage Salad Recipe (THM E)

I discovered Cookie and Kate's Crunchy Thai Peanut and Quinoa Salad recipe when I was doing an eat from the pantry challenge and wanted to use up the quinoa in my pantry as well as one of the purple cabbages from my garden. 

The salad was so good, I made it again and again. 

But then I committed to eating the Trim Healthy Mama way in order to lose weight and get healthy, and realised I would need to come up with a THM version of the salad I loved so much. By subbing a few simple ingredients, I succeeded in creating a version of the salad that has all the same great taste and mouth feel as the original, but which doesn't cross over too many fats and carbs in the same recipe.

Today I share my Thai Quinoa and Red Cabbage Salad Recipe with you. This is a THM E (energising) recipe, meaning it derives its energy from gentle carbs rather than from fat. 

Ingredients

For the salad

• ¾ cup dried quinoa
• 1½ cups water
• 2 cups shredded purple cabbage
• 1 cup grated carrot
• 1 cup thinly sliced snow peas, sugar snap peas or celery
• ½ cup chopped cilantro (coriander leaves and stems)
• ¼ cup thinly sliced spring onion

Peanut sauce

• ¼ cup PB2 peanut flour
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce or coconut aminos
• 1 Tbsp sugar-free sweetener, eg. Truvia/Natvia/THM Gentle Sweet
• 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
• Juice of one lime

Method

1. Cook the quinoa

• Rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh colander under running water to remove its bitter coating. 
• In a medium-sized pot, combine the rinsed quinoa and 1½ cups water. 
• Bring the mixture to a gentle boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and gently simmer the quinoa until it has absorbed all of the water. 
• Remove the quinoa from heat, cover the pot and let it rest for 5 minutes. 
• Uncover the pot and fluff the quinoa with a fork. Set it aside to cool.

2. Make the peanut sauce

• Mix together the peanut flour, soy sauce, sweetener, rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger and lime juice in a small pyrex jug. 

3. Assemble the salad

• In a large serving bowl, combine the cooked quinoa, shredded cabbage, carrot, snow peas/celery, cilantro and spring onion. Toss to combine, then pour in the peanut sauce. Toss again until to coat everything in the sauce.
• This is a good salad to bring to a shared dinner. Alternatively, I like to portion it out into two or three lidded Pyrex bowls so I can eat it myself over multiple days for hearty, filling lunches. 
• This salad stores well in the fridge for up to 4 days.