Nutty Wholefood Grain Salad
Nutty Wholefood Grain Salad is packed with loads of nutritious foods and tastes fantastic. A punchy soy and ginger dressing enhances wholegrains, crispy toasted nuts and seeds, vegetables, and protein-rich beans. Served with greens like rocket, kale, or spinach it’s a satisfying, complete meal in a bowl. But the wonderful combination of flavours and textures work great as a side or one of a series of small dishes too.
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I can’t take the credit for coming up with the idea for this salad. Because it’s my version of a fancy pre-packed salad I saw on a ‘high-end’ supermarket website. Regular readers might be surprised as my blog is not exactly made up of the latest food trends. In fact, some of my most popular recipes are decidedly old-fashioned British ones (e.g. Potted Beef, Haslet and Staffordshire Oatcakes). I’m actually very proud of that fact, but I’m also open to new ideas and inspiration from all sorts of avenues.
Anyway, after recently becoming rather fixated on savoury pies and ice cream (separate, not together!) I thought it was time to try a new and healthy salad recipe. The result was my Nutty Wholefood Grain Salad packed with so many good, nutritious things. Of course, food being one of my great pleasures, it also had to taste fantastic.
NUTTY WHOLEFOOD GRAIN SALAD
I should say at the outset that if you’re familiar with the salad mine is based on, don’t expect mine to be a copy. The truth is, while it was my jumping off point, I haven’t actually eaten the original. So, I’ve no idea if mine tastes similar or not. I’ve included some ingredients not in the original and left others out. The amounts I’ve chosen of any ingredient are also unlikely to be the same.
What I can tell you though is that my Nutty Wholefood Grain Salad is one of those dishes you can almost feel doing you good! But that doesn’t mean I’ve compromised on the enjoyment factor. I love its combination of flavours and textures. Savoury, sweet, crunchy, chewy, and tender.
HOW TO MAKE NUTTY WHOLEFOOD GRAIN SALAD
You’ll find a recipe card at the end with ingredient amounts and full instructions. But I recommend you read this post first for an overview, images to guide you, plus extra tips and suggestions.
The base of this hugely satisfying salad is a combination of whole grains, nuts, seeds, and beans. And I think it’s that mix of chewy, crunchy and nutty that’s a large part of its success.
For convenience, I used a pack of ready-cooked brown, red, and wild rice. But you can choose any whole grains (e.g. bulgur wheat, freekeh, spelt), pseudo-grains (e.g. quinoa, wholewheat couscous), or a mix. The same goes for the beans: I used part of a prepared mix containing cannellini, borlotti, kidney, black, and butter beans, but feel free to swap in others.
The cooked grains and beans are tossed with a generous amount seeds and nuts, first toasted in a dry pan to make them extra tasty and crunchy. I love a delicious blend of almonds, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, plus black and white sesame. But use whichever you happen to have or like.
THE VEGETABLES
As in the original which inspired my salad, the vegetables I tossed through the base are green beans, edamame beans, and carrot. If you don’t have or like edamame beans (i.e. young green, protein-rich soya beans) then fresh or frozen peas would be a reasonable substitute.
I happened to have flat green beans in my veg box delivery so used those, first briefly simmering, draining and cooling them. Of course, regular round French beans are more widely available, or runner beans in season.
I had frozen edamame beans so cooked those with the green beans. If you have fresh ones from the salad aisle then these are usually already cooked. I used my nifty, super-fast julienne peeler to finely shred the raw carrot. But you could use a knife to cut into fine matchsticks if preferred. I’m not a fan of grated carrot as it can exude more water prepared that way.
THE DRESSING
I suspect the dressing for my Nutty Wholefood Grain Salad is very different from the shop-bought one. But I think its balance of savoury, sweet and punchy flavours is gorgeous. The main ones are soy and ginger, but here’s the full list of lip-smacking ingredients.
- Peanut butter. Not in the original recipe. If preferred, you could swap in tahini or any nut or seed butter.
- Rice vinegar. Replace with any mild vinegar if you don’t have it.
- Soy sauce. Ideally equal amounts of light and dark soy, otherwise just regular soy.
- Cider vinegar. Adds a bit of fruity acidity. Lemon or lime juice would work too.
- Sweetener. The salad definitely benefits from sweetness. I like the richness of date syrup but you could use maple syrup, honey, or any sugar.
- Sesame oil. Adds more nutty flavour but don’t buy it especially as you only need a couple of teaspoons.
- Garlic. Finely chopped or grated.
- Ginger. Finely chopped or grated.
- Chilli. Use any paste, sauce, flakes or powder, or leave out if you don’t like heat.
- Black pepper.
To make the dressing, just whisk everything together. However, I understand that people have different ideas about what’s ‘punchy’ or ‘too strong’. So, for those wary of very bold flavours I recommend you start with smaller amounts of the vinegars, soy sauce and sweetener, taste, then adjust as necessary.
When you’re happy with the balance, pour most of the dressing over the salad and toss really well. I like to keep a little back to drizzle over each serving.
SERVING & STORING
Just before serving, it’s nice to add some fresh herbs. Here I used parsley, but mint, coriander, or a mix of two or three of these would also be good.
If you’re going to eat as a stand-alone meal, I recommend piling the salad on top of some lettuce or any leafy greens. The day I made this one I had rocket, but spinach or kale would be equally good. All that’s left to do then is a final drizzle of the reserved dressing. I always keep a jar of toasted sesame seeds in the cupboard so sprinkle over a few.
If you’re looking for something satisfying that’s packed with nutritious foods but also tastes fantastic then my Nutty Wholefood Grain Salad might be just the thing. Stored in an airtight container in the fridge, it should last for 1 – 2 days. The amounts in the recipe card will feed 4 – 6 depending on whether you have it as a complete meal or a side. Appetites will naturally vary too, but the recipe can easily be halved or even multiplied up if needed.
If you’ve made this recipe, I’d love to know what you thought. Please leave a comment and rating.
Nutty Wholefood Grain Salad
A punchy dressing enhances wholegrains, crispy toasted nuts and seeds, vegetables, and protein-rich beans in this nutritious and delicious salad. Serve over greens like rocket, kale or spinach for a satisfying, complete meal. Also great as a side or one of a series of small dishes.
Please read the accompanying blog post before starting.
Ingredients
- 120 g mixed nuts and seeds of your choice (e.g. 30 g each almonds, pistachios, pumpkin, sesame seeds)
- 250 g any cooked and cooled whole grains (e.g. brown, red and wild rice, or quinoa, bulgur wheat, spelt)
- salt (to taste)
- 150 g green beans, chopped (weight after preparation e.g. topped, tailed)
- 160 g edamame beans (fresh or frozen)
- 2 medium carrots (julienned or cut into fine matchsticks)
- 200 g cooked mixed beans (e.g. black beans, borlotti, cannellini, kidney, butter beans)
- 2 handfuls fresh herbs, e.g. parsley, mint, coriander (1 or a mixture: leaves finely chopped, tough stems discarded)
- greens e.g. rocket, kale spinach (optional to serve)
- extra toasted sesame seeds (optional to serve)
For the dressing
- 50 g (approx. 2 rounded tbsp) crunchy peanut butter (or tahini or other nut/seed butter)
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) rice vinegar
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) soy sauce (ideally 50/50 light and dark soy)
- 15 ml (1 tbsp) cider vinegar (or lime or lemon juice)
- 10 - 15 ml (2 - 3 tsp) sweetener (e.g. date or maple syrup, honey, brown sugar)
- 10 ml (2 tsp) sesame oil
- 1 large clove garlic (finely chopped or grated)
- 1 heaped tsp fresh ginger (finely chopped or grated)
- chilli flakes, powder, sauce or paste (to taste)
- black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
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Make the dressing by whisking together all the ingredients then set aside.
Tip: You may wish to start with smaller amounts of the vinegars, soy sauce and sweetener. Taste then adjust accordingly.
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Toast the nuts and seeds by putting them all in a frying pan over medium heat. Stir and turn constantly until lightly browned.
Tip: If including small seeds such as sesame, add them for the final few minutes only as they may brown quickly.
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Cook the green beans (and the edamame if frozen). Put a saucepan of boiling water over high heat and add salt to taste.
Add the green beans and frozen edamame and cook until the beans are cooked but still have some bite (approximately 5 minutes).
Drain then rinse under cold running water until cool. Leave to drain again.
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Take a large serving bowl, put in the whole grains, the toasted nuts and seeds, the cooked pulses, and toss together.
Add the prepared green beans, edamame, and carrots and toss again.
Pour in most of the dressing, keeping back a little to pour over each serving, then toss very well so everything has a coating of dressing.
Just before serving, toss in the fresh herbs (reserve some for a garnish if liked)
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Serve over the greens if using, drizzle with the reserved dressing and herb plus extra toasted sesame seeds if using.
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Can be stored in the fridge for 1 - 2 days. Toss again before serving.
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