Celebrate summer and mango season with this flavorful Quinoa Salad with Mangoes, Cashews, and Mint.
It is suddenly, emphatically, mango season in Miami. The trees are full of heavy, ripe, orange fruit hanging from long stems, like possums swinging by their tails (another delightful South Florida phenomenon).
In mango season, it’s almost as though you can stand underneath a mango tree with your mouth open and have sweetness fall right into your mouth.
Or you can enjoy this summer salad with quinoa as a base, providing fiber and oomph, cooling mint, and cashews for crunch. Cashews and mangoes are related, botanically speaking, so it’s like the best kind of family reunion.
This is black quinoa from Rancho Gordo celebrating 20 wonderful years of heirloom beans and other good things.
Happy anniversary to you and happy mango season to all.
Quinoa Salad With Mangoes, Cashews and Mint
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa rinsed
- 2 cups water or vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon canola grapeseed or other neutral oil
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 1/2 jalapeno minced (about 2 teaspoons)
- 1 handful of mint leaves coarsely chopped
- 1 bunch cilantro leaves coarsely chopped
- 1 mango peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
- 1/2 cup roasted unsalted cashews, coarsely chopped
- sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring water or vegetable broth to boil over high heat. Pour in quinoa. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook quinoa for about 25 minutes, or until all all the liquid is absorbed and quinoa’s little endosperm tails appear.
- Spoon quinoa into a large bowl. Add lime juice and oil and toss to combine. Add celery, jalapeno, mint and cilantro. Mix again.
- Gently mix in mango. Season with sea salt and pepper.
- Mix in roasted cashews just before serving.
- Keeps covered and refrigerated for 3 days, although nuts may lose some of their crunch.
ACC says
Could you recommend a low-fat substitute for cashews (that will also give it a crunch? If not, do you think the salad would still be good without them?
Ellen Kanner says
Amelia, I’m a bad girl. Sorry for the slow reply. I’m now mostly onBroccoli Rising through Substack – free and easy. I hear you — we want the crunch in the salad, but the fat? Not so much. The celery does add crunch. Do try without the cashews, and let me know your thoughts. I promise to get back to you quicker next time. Thanks!