Recipes
Smoky Taco Salad
by Iona Berry
3min read
This smoky taco salad is fresh, colourful and gives you the Mexican food hit, without feeling like you’ve consumed 1000 tacos (although that would be delicious too). The orange and lime dressing is sweet and sour, whilst the quinoa is flavoured with chipotle paste and smoked paprika which contrasts excellently with the lettuce and black beans. The taco strips and corn add excellent texture to the salad, making it a rather special salad if I say so.
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Serves
4-6
Ingredients
Dressing:
60g avocado (about ½ depending on the size)
40ml lime juice (this was 1 lime for me but it varies)
50ml orange juice
2-3 tsp sriracha or your favourite hot sauce
40ml extra virgin olive oil (you could sub in avocado oil here)
2 tsp maple syrup or agave
1/2 tsp salt
20ml water
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Quinoa:
1 tbsp neutral oil
1 medium sized white onion, finely diced
½ tsp salt
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp chipotle paste
130g white quinoa, rinsed and drained
380ml water
35ml orange juice
Corn:
240g sweetcorn
1 tbsp orange juice
¼ tsp smoked paprika
Pinch of salt
Salad:
1 400g can of black beans, rinsed and drained
2 heads of little gem lettuce
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
2 avocados, finely sliced
Tortilla strips:
4 corn tortilla wraps, cut into strips
1 tsp neutral oil
½ tsp flaky sea salt (less if using table salt)
Method
STEP 1
Preheat the oven to 200˚C fan/220˚C conventional.
STEP 2
Begin by making the smoky quinoa. In a medium sized saucepan, heat the oil over a medium heat. Turn up the heat slightly and add the onion and salt. Cook for 7-8 minutes until beginning to soften and caramelise.
STEP 3
Once the onion has some noticeable colour around the edges, add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
STEP 4
Add the smoked paprika and chipotle paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the quinoa and cook for 2 minutes before adding the water and orange juice. Bring to the boil and then place a lid on the pan and leave to cook for 20 minutes on a medium heat.
STEP 5
Meanwhile, make the crispy tortilla strips. In a large bowl toss the strips with the oil and salt, and spread them evenly across a baking tray. Cook for 10 minutes until golden brown but keep a very close eye on them as they can burn very easily. Once cooked, leave them aside to cool and then prep the sweetcorn.
STEP 6
Mix the sweetcorn with the orange juice, smoked paprika and salt and stir to combine. Layer the corn evenly on a baking tray and cook for 15 minutes until golden brown.
By Iona Berry
Iona is our Development Chef, aka our go-to girl for developing, testing and tasting delicious dishes for you to all enjoy at home. When she’s not in the kitchen, you’ll find her either running or cycling, or trying out food markets and new restaurants around London. Continuous market research it would seem.
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