As we are in the middle of another heatwave and I am not coping very well, I’ve decided to take it easy until it cools down (apparently next week). Therefore today’s recipe is very easy to throw together. It’s an idea for a simple vegan lunch bowl, the variation of which we tend to eat a lot, in the summer months.
It features beautifully sweet cherry tomatoes that we can’t get enough of, cooling cucumber, crunchy Romaine lettuce and a creamy avocado. Alongside these, I usually place some spiced chickpeas and cooked quinoa (another mild tasting non-grain or actual grain will work well too). To top it all off, I lavish the bowl with finely chopped capers for saltiness, quick-pickled red onions for sourness and a simple lemon and chilli dressing for a bit of spice. And that’s it. What I like about this kind of lunch is that you can prepare a big batch of spiced chickpea, quinoa and quick-pickled onions at the beginning of the week and simply dip into this reserve whenever you need to make lunch in a hurry. The quantities for these three items I have given you below should cover 6 portions easily so that with a little bit of prep and forward planning you can have a few days of hassle-free healthy meals that actually taste good.
10 large Romaine lettuce leaves, chopped 1 Lebanese cucumber, sliced thinly 16 cherry tomatoes, quartered ½ small avocado, peeled and diced ¼ cup capers, chopped very finely ½ cup spiced chickpeas ½ cup cooked quinoa a few strands of quick pickled onions, chopped very finely black pepper, to taste
QUICK PICKLED ONIONS
2 red onions, sliced very thinly ½ cup / 120 ml apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp sugar ½ cup / 120 ml water ½ tsp salt
DRESSING
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 tbsp lemon juice ½-1 tsp sambal oelek (Indonesian chilli paste)
QUINOA ASSEMBLY
