Salmagundi recipe – super healthy quinoa & garlicky aubergines

I already said in my previous post about the review of Salmagundi how enthusiastic I was of this book. But then I tried this recipe and oh my god, I am even more enthusiastic! Seriously, it was so delicious! And even though there are six gloves of garlic in there, it won’t stop you from taking this for lunch to work. It is that good! And like it says in the book, super healthy as well! I made a few adjustments to the recipe that will make it a little quicker, but it will take about 30 minutes till the salad is done. This might sound like a long time for a salad, but the again you will end up with a damn fine salad! I used broccoli instead of cauliflower ’cause I’m not a big fan of cauliflower, but of course you can just use whatever you like most.

Serves 4-5 / 10 min preparation / 30 minute of oven time / in total 40 minutes

What you need

175 g quinoa
450 ml good vegetable stock (or water)
1 medium aubergine, cut into 2cm chunks
1/2 small cauliflower, broken into florets
1 large onion, cut into 1.5cm chunks
6 garlic gloves, finely sliced
non-extra-virgin olive oil, for cooking
1 tsp brown sugar
1 heaped tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chili powder
sea salt
100 g roasted peanuts
1 can (400 g) chickpeas
1 small bunch of fresh coriander, finely chopped

For the dressing

3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses (didn’t use this either and still tasted great!)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

How it works

1. Pour the stock into a pan and add the quinoa. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the stock is absorbed and the grain cooked al dente;
2. Preheat the oven to 190˚C/375˚F/Gas mark 5;
3. Place the aubergine, cauliflower, onion and garlic in an oven dish. dribble with a little oil and sprinkle with the sugar, spices and salt before covering with foil and baking for about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft, allow to cool a little;
4. Tip the quinoa into a bowl and mix with the peanuts, chickpeas and coriander;
5. Whisk the dressing ingredients together, seasoning to taste and finally pile the roasted garlicky veg on the quinoa and pour the dressing sauce over the salad;
6. Serve with some plain yoghurt.