Superfood bowl with mint pesto

Superfood bowl with mint pesto

superfood bowl with mint pesto

This superfood bowl with mint pesto says spring to me. It’s filling yet light, healthy, full of raw food goodness and is naturally gluten-free.

I don’t use the term ‘superfood’ very often as, having worked in advertising for years, I’m aware that calling certain foods ‘superfoods’ is simply a marketing ploy to offload overpriced, sometimes exotic, ingredients to the unsuspecting public looking for a miracle fix. Sadly no amount of mung bean sprouts in my lunch today will compensate for one too many chocolate brownies I hoovered up the day before.

Although…hang on, isn’t chocolate a superfood too?! 🙂 .

I did call this salad bowl a superfood bowl in a much broader sense. It contains a beautiful balance of fresh, natural, seasonal ingredients that will definitely improve the way you feel if you include them on your menu on a regular basis. Maybe it’s just health conscious me, but eating such a variety of fresh produce, colours and textures for lunch somehow makes me feel more alive! It gives me a little edge of nutritional superpower!

superfood bowl with mint pesto ingredients

superfood bowl with mint pesto portion

serves
2-3
PREP
20 min
COOKING
20 min
serves
2-3
PREPARATION
20 min
COOKING
20 min
INGREDIENTS

SUPERFOOD BOWL

  • ½ cup quinoa, cooked
  • 200 g broad beans or peas
  • 10 radishes, sliced
  • ½ avocado, sliced
  • ½ long cucumber, chopped
  • 1 spring onion, sliced thinly
  • 1 turnip, grated coarsely
  • 2 handfuls of sprouts (I sprouted mung beans)
  • salt and pepper, to taste

QUICK MINT PESTO

  • leaves from 5 springs of mint, roughly chopped
  • 1 small garlic clove
  • 1 tbsp / 15 ml lime or lemon juice
  • 10 almonds, roughly chopped
  • pinch of coarse salt
  • pepper, to taste
  • 4 tbsp / 60 ml extra virgin olive oil

METHOD

SUPERFOOD BUDDHA BOWL

  1. Cook quinoa according to the instructions on the packet. I simmer mine (with a lid on) in 1:1½ (grain:water) volume ratio until all the water gets absorbed and let it stand covered for 5-10 minutes after that.
  2. To cook broad beans, bring a small pot of water to the boil. Throw broad beans in and boil them for about 5 minutes. While broad beans are cooking, prepare a bowl of cold water and a few ice cubes thrown in. After 5 minutes test one bean and if it’s cooked, drain broad beans and plunge them into the bowl with cold water you prepared earlier. Pod the beans.
  3. Divide cooked quinoa, broad beans and the rest of salad ingredients between 2 bowls.

QUICK MINT PESTO

  1. To make mint pesto, crush chopped almonds in a pestle and mortar. Then add garlic and a pinch of salt and pound them until the garlic turns into a paste. Add chopped mint leaves in small batches and a bit of lemon juice to stop the mint from turning brown. Pound each batch until finely minced and finally drizzle in olive oil to emulsify the mixture. Season with lemon zest, pepper and extra salt if needed.
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NUTRITIONAL INFO
calories
388
19%
sugars
7 g
8%
fats
11 g
16%
saturates
1 g
7%
proteins
21 g
43%
carbs
54 g
21%
*per serving
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5.0
1 review, 5 comments
REVIEWS & QUESTIONS
tori:
This recipe looks so great, and I'm planning to make it for a small gathering I'm having next week. I'm wondering how long any leftover mint pesto will last in the refrigerator and whether it can be frozen. Thank you, and I can't wait to try making this!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Tori,
    Great to hear and I hope it will go down well. Yes, pesto can absolutely be frozen - pro tip, freeze it in ice cube moulds so that you can defrost as little as you need. If you top it with a generous layer of olive oil it want spoil in the fridge for at least a week - oil prevents the mould from setting in. Hope this helps. Ania
Robby D.:
I just made this and love it! The mint pesto is amazing, I used lime juice rather than lemon, and raw hazelnuts because I couldn't find any almonds in the pantry. It turned out zesty and perfect! Thanks :)
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks Robby, I'm so pleased to hear that you liked it so much! It made my day! :)
Emily:
Thanks! I get so much mint in summer and always feel like I haven't used it nearly as thoroughly as I could.
    Ania
    Ania:
    My pleasure :) !
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