spicy peanut mango quinoa salad

a couple weeks ago, as spring was in the air i rang in the season with these mango, cucumber & avocado spring rolls.  they were so fresh and tasty that i probably made them a good 3 times that week, and based on your response, you liked them too! 

here were are now though, 3 weeks into spring and today i woke up to flurries.  as in snow.  i kid you not.  my first reaction was, really mother nature?  really??, but then i reminded myself that i live in sudbury, and in fact snow in april or even may is not anything i should be surprised by.

but just in case mother nature is listening, i'm bringing back the spring flavours of my salad rolls today in the form of a quinoa salad.  this little number will be making her way to a veggie potluck tonight.  hopefully mother nature shows up and has a double helping to get her in the spring spirit.

 
spicy peanut mango quinoa salad
makes a lot.  a good 8-10 servings i'd say.
2 cups quinoa
4 cups water
pinch of sea salt
1 cucumber, seeded & diced {about 2 cups}
1 avocado, cubed {about 1 cup}
1 mango, pitted, peeled & cubed {about 1 cup}
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup spicy peanut lime dressing {or more to taste}

rinse the quinoa under cold water.  in a medium sized pot, bring the quinoa, salt & water to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover to cook for 15 minutes.  remove the pot from the heat, fluff with a fork and set it aside to cool to room temperature.  (i got a bit impatient and ended up popping it in the fridge for about 10 minutes to speed this up.)  fold in the rest of the ingredients and serve right away, or cover it up and refrigerate it until you need it.

spicy peanut lime dressing
makes 1 cup
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup tamari
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp sriracha, or to taste 
{i kept things fairly mild for the potluck but will be bringing more sriracha to spice it up more!} 

whisk together the peanut butter, tamari, oil & lime juice.  add the water a little at a time until you reach the dressing is as thick or thin as you like it.  i only needed to use 3 tablespoons, but you might like more or less.  finally spice to taste with sriracha.

 

maybe if we all make this salad, spring will be a sure thing?  wishful thinking perhaps, but there's nothing lost in trying, right?

if you don`t want to make this yourself though and are in sudbury too, you should come out tonight to the northern vegetarian society potluck!  all are welcome, and if you've been meaning to pick up an NVS membership for a while now, you'll have the opportunity to do that too!  sadly because of the frigid weather today we've had to relocate to an indoor location for one more month, but it still promises to be a great time to enjoy a huge spread of veg-friendly noshes & meet some great folks too.  the more the merrier!


here are the details:
6pm at the landsdowne public school library (landsdowne & frood)
bring a vegetarian or vegan dish to share, a copy or two of the recipe and your own plate & cutlery
*as it`s after hours in the school, the front door has to be kept locked, so please arrive on time!