Curried Quinoa Salad-dish

I am leaving on a trip down to Florida very soon, and so this past week I decided not to go crazy with my grocery shopping.  Instead, I tried to eat my way through the food I had on hand, in my fridge, freezer and pantry, as to not let anything go to waste once I head off to the sunny South!  This is how and why I came up with my new version of this classic curried grain dish.  A mix up of various goodies I always have in stock, that turned out to be one of THE best salads I have ever concocted!

Whatcha need:

- 1 C garbanzo beans (canned, reconstituted dried, or in my case, leftover frozen ones, defrosted!)

- 6 spears asparagus (I used frozen)

- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 1/2 Tbsp coconut oil 

- 1/2 tsp., plus 1 Tbsp yellow curry powder

- 1 tsp. turmeric (Hello, yellow!)

- 1/2 tsp cumin

- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 2 C cooked quinoa (I used a combo of red & white)

- 1/2 C raisins

- 1 green onion chopped

- 1/4 C raw cashews, chopped

- 1 Tbsp olive oil

- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

Whatcha do:

1. Toss asparagus & onion in coconut oil, and spread on a cookie sheet.  Roast at 400 degrees until browned and caramelized, about 30 mins.
2. Meantime, in a small sauce pan, toss in garbanzo beans, 2 Tbsp. water and 1/2 tsp curry.  Bring to boil, covered.  Reduce heat and simmer until all liquid is evaporated, and beans begin to brown.  Stir in quinoa and remove from heat.
3. Once roast veggies are cooled, chop into bite sized pieces and add to quinoa mixture (I also added leftover roast sweet potato & mushrooms from dinner the night before!)
4. Stir in remaining spices, olive oil, raisins, green onion, cashews, and vinegar.  Adjust seasoning as desired, adding salt & pepper to taste.

So good, so filling, so packed full of body loving nutrients.  Careful though, this dear dish can stain your tupperware, but its robust flavour and pretty colour are well worth a few goldened containers I'd say!