Emma’s Tuna and Quinoa Salad

First of all, I want to explain that I know canned tuna is not a totally ‘clean’ food. It contains mercury and comes in tins which contain BPA, so it’s not a food I eat regularly. I see it as an emergency food when I don’t have time to cook a protein source myself. This salad is from my friend Emma, who I used to work with at a local gym. She brought this salad into work for lunch for literally two months straight! I thought, “Wow. This must be an amazing salad!’ So I asked her for the recipe. (I have tweaked it a little, so it’s just the way I like it!) :)

This salad does involve a little effort – cooking the quinoa and doing quite a bit of chopping. I’m a very basic cook so this salad is a bit more time-consuming for me; however, it tastes really nice with the tangy Moroccan dressing and I think it’s worth the effort when you feel like something a bit different and more flavoursome than your usual lunch time salad.

Serves 1

Ingredients

1/4 cup cooked quinoa
6 cherry tomatoes
1/2 lebanese cucumber, diced
1/4 red capsicum, diced
1 tbs red onion, diced
6 pitted green olives
3 whole / 10g walnuts, crumbled
2 tbs parsley, chopped
1x 95g tin of tuna in spring water, drained

Dressing:
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp Moroccan seasoning

Method

1. Combine all ingredients for the salad in a bowl.
2. In a small jar, shake together the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad. Stir through.

If you’re not eating the salad immediately, leave the tuna and dressing out and add it just before eating. If you love the taste of the Moroccan seasoning you should also try my recipe for crispy skin moroccan salmon.

Nutritional info per serve: