A bit of bite

I fancied something creamy, salty and with a bit of bite…my cravings tend to be quite complex!

With all that in mind I did a little perusing on a few of my favourite blogs and found Sonia’s idea for creamy buckwheat with sundried tomatoes. Her version contained cheese which I of course omitted but stuck to the fundamentals.

I’m a big zucchini lover at the best of times, always opting for it raw as opposed to cooked (though I did find a yummy looking zucchini quinoa idea during the week which I’ll be whipping up sometime soon!) If I could have one gadget it would be a spirooli; would love to be able to make myself some fancy ass zucchini noodles! If any kind company out there would like to send me to test out I would be more than happy to take it in to my care!!!

This salad satisfied all my cravings in one fell swoop. Slight nutty buckwheat with a bit of bite, creamy tahini dressing, salty sundried tomatoes, olives and fresh zucchini, roasted red pepper and plenty of fresh basil to lift to a sensational tasty dimension.

Love these one bowl meals that can be easily packed up for lunch. More often than not I end up with about 5 or 6 lunch boxes going to work, different components of a dish ready to be assembled. One box, one bowl and a few photos before digging in.

Super quick and tasty and the ideal dish to make a double portion for the following day.

I went with edamame beans for an extra hit of protein and burst of bright green. Love the little bright bean; they’re still up there with the chickpea on my favourite beautiful bean list!

I’ve been eating my way through a monumental amount of buckwheat lately and have finally gotten my hands on a big bag of buckwheat flour all the way from the US thanks to iHerb. Buckwheat pancakes are on the menu soon and I’m thinking a savoury filling something along the lines of this salad might be in order.

Tahini dressing is something I go through phases of lashing on salads and this has kicked off another week of tahini loving. Dave in The Happy Pear introduced me to an incredible new snack idea…grab a banana, dunk it in tahini and take a big bite making doing your best not to drip the tahini all over your chin; it’s harder than it sounds. Super tasty!

My all time favourite tahini dressed salad is this butternut squash and chickpea salad…more enticing than even a pile of pancakes and that really is saying something!

If you haven’t tried buckwheat let this be your introduction. It’s a fantastic alternative to using a grain in your salad with all the energy density to keep you satisfied for longer. Here’s a little run down on the fruit seed commonly mistaken to be a grain for anyone who’s interested!

Creamy Tahini Zucchini Buckwheat Salad

 Print this easy peasy recipe

Servings – 1

Preparation Time – 5 minutes

Cooking Time – 20 minutes

Ingredients

Salad

• 1/2 cup buckwheat groats
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 100g edamame beans
• 25g sundried tomatoes (4 large) shredded
• 1/2 roasted red bell pepper diced
• 1 small zucchini shredded
• 6-7 black olives finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh basil roughly chopped + a little extra for garnish

Dressing

• 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp Tahini
• 1/2 tbsp White wine vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions

1. Rinse buckwheat groats before place in a pot, covering with water and bringing to the boil. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until all water has been absorbed. Fluff with a fork and set to one side to cool.
2. Meanwhile prepare other ingredients; soak sundried tomatoes (I use the dried and bagged as opposed to those soaked in oil), shred zucchini, chop basil and whisk together dressing ingredients.
3. Mix together all salad ingredients, pour over dressing and stir well to combine. Serve garnish with some fresh basil on top.

Tagged as: basil, buckwheat, olives, sundried tomatoes, tahini, vegan, vegetarian, zucchini