Sweet Potato Quinoa Salad Bowl with Pecans & Creamy Butter Beans

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Jasmine

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The weather is finally warming up here in the UK, and I couldn’t be happier, given I’ve used most of my holiday for the year! So, it seemed time to share my first fresh salad recipe. This is what I’m going to call a ‘warm’ salad; there are some cooked elements, but really it’s meant to be room temperature. I created this dish because I often want delicious salad bowls when I’m eating out, but struggle to make something quite so appealing at home. However, when I broke down the elements of what makes me want to eat a salad, it became much easier; this is filling, it has a number of different elements, textures and flavours and there’s plenty in here to keep you interested…

INGREDIENTS

Vegetables:

Rainbow (or Swiss) Chard

Pea shoots (rocket also works)

Plant Protein:

Pecans

Mixed seeds (mine are pumpkin, sunflower and sesame)

Quinoa

Herbs and Spices:

Smoked paprika

Fresh parsley

Dressing and Toppings:

High-quality extra virgin olive oil (you want a nice, fresh flavour as you’ll be eating it as a finishing oil)

Lemon juice and zest

Honey (or agave nectar)

Garlic

Feta (obviously, if you’re plant-based, you can skip this or use a vegan Greek-style cheese block)

Creamy Butter Beans:

Tahini

Butter beans (retain some of the juice)

Olive oil, if needed

TIPS

There are a lot of elements to this, but each is pretty simple, so there’s nothing to worry about so long as you do all of your prep beforehand.

One thing to mention is that you should rinse quinoa before use to remove bitter flavours, and ideally pre-soak it for 30-120 minutes before cooking. It sounds like a lot of effort, but most of it is dead time and this will help it to cook faster and it also helps remove some of the harder-to-digest elements of the grain.

Sweet Potato Quinoa Salad Bowl with Pecans & Creamy Butter Beans

  • Servings: 2-3
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

A warm salad bowl with plenty of fibre

    Blender and salad dressing shaker (or empty mason jar) required and I recommend pre-soaking the quinoa for at least 30 minutes (see Tips above)
  • if you can’t do this

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of quinoa (rinsed thoroughly and pre-soaking recommended – see Tips)
  • 200g of tinned or jarred butter beans (keep some of the juice)
  • 1 tbsp of tahini
    • 1 sweet potato (peeled or skin-on, cut into bite-sized chunks)
  • 1 tsp of smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp of honey or agave nectar
  • 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil (+ extra for cooking)
  • Juice and zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 clove of garlic (grated or crushed)
  • 30g of pea shoots
  • 100g of rainbow / Swiss chard (roughly chopped – slice and add in some of the stems, if you like)
  • A small handful (c. 2g) of fresh parsley (chopped)
  • 40g of pecans
  • 1 tbsp of mixed seeds
  • 45g of feta cheese (or a vegan feta alternative)
  • Salt and pepper to taste


Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C
  2. Add the quinoa to a large, wide-based lidded plan with a drizzle of olive oil, season with salt and pepper and toast over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes
  3. Add 1.5 cups of water to the quinoa, increase the heat to medium-high and cover until the water begins to bubble, at which point reduce down to a simmer and cook for c. 20 minutes, stirring occasionally – once cooked, turn off the heat and set aside to cool
  4. Meanwhile, add the sweet potato chunks to a sheet tray, drizzle over some olive oil, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the smoked paprika – oven bake for c. 25 minutes
  5. Add the seeds and pecan nuts to an ovenproof dish and bake for 15 minutes until they pick up some colour
  6. Blend together the butter beans and juice with the tahini and season with salt and pepper; adjust the texture by adding olive oil if needed, and blend into a cream
  7. Add the grated garlic, lemon zest and juice, honey / agave and olive oil to your dressing shaker or jar, season with salt and pepper and shake to combine
  8. Combine the chard, pea shoots, quinoa and baked-through sweet potato chunks
  9. To serve, spread the bean cream over the bottom of your serving plate, add the quinoa and sweet potato salad mix on top, sprinkle on the seeds and nuts, crumble over the feta and drizzle on the salad dressing

Let me know if you try this salad bowl!

See how I put this together step by step:

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