Vegan meal idea: Quinoa salad with roasted vegetables & fried tofu and edmame beans

A meal which i am currently loving is a quinoa salad with roasted vegetables and tofu. I wouldn’t call this meal a “quick and simple” meal like some of my previous recipes and meals as it requires some prep time as well as cook time. However it is not as complicated or time consuming as making a lasagna or preparing your own seitan, haha.

Also, this meal can be made the day before and you can make a large batch to last you a few days!! This meal is both colour and filling as well as filled with lots of vitamins and minerals.

Protein from the tofu, quinoa, edmame beans. Carbs from the quinoa, roasted veggies and beetroots. And healthy fats from the oil and avocado! And a whole bunch of calcium, iron, fiber and other vitamins from all the different ingredients and foods! 🙂 Basically a nutritious powerbomb which tastes delicious – and can be eaten both cold or warm!

Ingredients:
Quinoa (can sub for rice or bulgur/couscous if you prefer)

Vegetables and potatoes of choice to roast in the oven

Vegetable stock (optional)

Tofu c.a 125g or more depending on how many portions you are making

Edmame beans

Sweet corn

Small pumpkin squares (can be omitted – i used frozen pumpkin pieces)

Beetroot

Onion and garlic (optional – for taste)

Seasoning of choice and oil for frying

 

How to:

Begin with peeling & chopping up the vegetables of choice which you want to roast. (I went for sweet potato, potato and swede.) Chop into similar sized pieces, season and drizzle some oil over. Bake in the oven c.a 25-30 minutes at 225 degrees celsius.

While the vegetables are roasting, measure out the amount of quinoa portions you want and cook according to package instructions. Can cook in vegetable stock for extra flavour. (Cook time is usually around 15-20 minutes).

In the mean while, chop up tofu into small squares and fry in some oil until golden brown on all sides. Add onion and garlic if using. Then add the rest of the ingredients, i.e sweet corn, edmame beans, pumpkin pieces and fry together with seasoning.

When all 3 parts are done, combine in a big bowl and serve with some salad and avocado. Or maybe make some sauce or dressing from vegan mayonnaise/creme fraiche or alpro soya yoghurt, and top with some seeds for extra crunch and protein!

As you can tell, i am not a huge fan of recipes or following recipes. Instead i think you should just be creative… throw some ingredients together! It doesn’t have to be complicated and you don’t need to measure everything precisely!! It is not a science experiment 🙂

Also you can cook all these ingredients separately and then at the end of the week when you just have a little of each item left you combine it all together to make a salad and is a perfect “left overs” meal 🙂