Crunchy Cabbage Salad with Toasted Quinoa

This is the kind of salad I make when I want lunch sorted for the whole week. Quinoa is a seed that people usually treat as a grain, and it has been grown in the Andes for thousands of years. It cooks like rice but keeps a little bite, which is why it works so well in a cold salad. The trick here is the first step. Toasting the dry quinoa in the pan for a few minutes until it starts to pop gives it a nutty flavor that plain boiled quinoa never quite has. Rinsing it well first matters too, because the natural coating on quinoa can taste bitter if you skip it.

Let the quinoa cool all the way before it goes into the dressing. If it is still warm, the yogurt can turn thin and the coleslaw mix goes limp. I usually spread it on a plate for ten minutes while I whisk the dressing, and that is plenty of time.

The dressing is simple: thick Greek yogurt, a little olive oil, rice wine vinegar, and dried dill. Dried dill is easy to overdo, so start with what the recipe says and taste before you add more. The garlic powder keeps it mellow instead of sharp. Chickpeas add protein and give the salad some heft, so it is filling enough to be a meal on its own. Pre-shredded coleslaw mix saves a lot of knife work, and the cabbage stays crunchy for days if the dressing is kept separate until serving.

This salad keeps well in a sealed container in the fridge for up to three days. The cabbage will soften a bit by the second day, which I actually like. If you want to stretch it into something warmer, a spoonful of this salad next to Seared Tilapia Grain Bowl with Roasted Vegetables makes a bright, easy dinner. For a lighter lunch with plenty of flavor, it pairs nicely with Tzatziki Chicken Pita Pockets tucked into a warm pita.

Serve it cold or at room temperature, straight from the bowl, with a fork and a napkin. It is good on a porch in summer and good at a desk at lunchtime.