Asian Quinoa Salad with Mango & Snow Peas

Summertime! 'Tis the season for dreaming up new creations so the salad rotation doesn't get dull. I like my salads filling enough to be a main dish, so quinoa usually works its way into the mix. Today's inspiration? Asian! Because mangoes are on sale, and my boyfriend can't get enough of snow peas. 


I feel extremely guilty though for using store-bought salad dressing in this recipe... I always make my own dressing, but there's a bottle of Litehouse Toasted Sesame in the fridge that needs using. As guilty as I feel, thank goodness the dressing is guilt-free, meaning zero grams of fat! Whew. 

Serves 4

• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
• Chicken marinade: 

• 1/2 tsp bombay curry powder
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper 
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp cayenne
• 1.5 cups quinoa (3 cups water)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 25 snow peas
• top half of a bunch of green onion
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 carrot
• 1 large, ripe mango
• juice 1/4 of a lemon
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• 1/3 cup Litehouse toasted sesame ginger dressing (fat-free)

Trim any fat off chicken breast and dice roughly into 1cm cubes. Marinade with seasoning, and set aside in fridge (can be done the night before, or just an hour prior to cooking, so flavor sets in). 

Bring water, quinoa, salt and ground coriander to a boil in a medium pot over high heat. Once it reaches a boil, reduce to low and cover for 15min. 

stripped snow peas

Meanwhile, wash and prepare all your fruit and veg. With the snow peas, this next step has been firmly ingrained in me thanks to years of helping my mom out in the kitchen... Feel free to skip this step if you don't mind a bit of chewy toughness in your snow peas. Instead of just trimming the ends, she taught me to take each of the ends and strip them down so the tough stringy parts on each side of the peas are removed. Slice each snow pea into 3-4 bite size pieces. Set aside.

Dice the green half of a bunch of green onion and place into large salad bowl. 

Roughly chop enough fresh cilantro to fill 1/4 cup and add to large salad bowl. 

Peel then shred carrot, using a medium grater slot. Add to large salad bowl. 

diced mango

By now, the quinoa should have finished cooking. Remove from heat, fluff, then add sliced snow peas to the quinoa, allowing the heat from the quinoa to lightly steam the snow peas. Fluff again, then let cool completely. 

Remove skin from mango, using a peeler or sharp knife. Dice, then add to large salad bowl. Toss all ingredients in the salad bowl so far with the juice of a quarter of a lemon. 

Sesame sprinkles on chicken.
Golden brown chicken.

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a small pan over high heat. Add cubed chicken to the pan and sprinkle sesame seeds over chicken. Cook for 10-15min, turning chicken pieces so that all sides are golden brown. Remove from heat and cool completely before adding to salad bowl. 

Once chicken, quinoa and snow peas have cooled, add to salad bowl and toss with salad dressing. Enjoy!