I am (unashamedly) a creature of habit. When I find something I like doing, I do it with huge love and commitment and I would do it all day every day, until well, one day when I don’t like doing it any more. And when I like eating something, I eat it as often as I humanly can (sometimes I can eat the same thing every day for weeks – remember my thing with meatballs?) until one day the thought of it makes me gag.

I’d say this is 90% my control-freak-ness and being able to know what I’m going to be doing (eating) two hours / two days / two weeks / two months from now. And 10% because I’m actually a hell of a lot less creative than most people give me credit for, so I kind of stick to what I know.

In any case, most weekdays I eat the same thing for lunch. This quinoa salad, with varied toppings, and by “varied”, I mean 4 out of the 5 ingredients never change and there’s one that I might switch out for something else, once every two weeks.

It’s actually kind of embarrassing. Y’all might know that I have a small addiction to this thing called Instagram, and how I like to share what I eat on there (and occasionally what I wear, which is humongously less interesting). So every day I look at my quinoa salad and I’m like, god don’t I have something – anything! – else to post?Β Well, the answer is no. And when I do have something different, I get all giddy excited because I can post that and feed the perception that I might actually have variety in my life.

Here are some other versions of the quinoa salad I’ve posted on Instagram recently:

Quinoa with tofu, tomato & cucumber

Quinoa with avocado, sweet corn, green beans, egg & fried shallots

Quinoa with fresh tofu, lettuce, tomato, capsicum, cucumber, avocado & fried shallots

Quinoa with tofu, cucumber, sweet corn & fried shallots

Quinoa with tofu, avocado & sweet corn

Quinoa with tofu, sweet corn, avocado & fried shallots

What? I’m not predictable at all!

Besides, quinoa is actually good for you, so I’m doing myself a favour by eating it every day. Anyway, here’s a recipe for the quinoa and tofu salad right up the top of this page. You don’t have to follow it strictly. Really, you can add anything to quinoa!

… and ps. I’m off to South Africa for work for a couple of weeks… so I’ll see you when I see you. xx

Quinoa and tofu salad
1/2 cup quinoa grains (not quinoa flakes)
1 cup water
200 grams tofu (fresh, or flavoured), cut into small cubes
1/2 ripe avocado, diced
Handful of cherry tomatoes, diced
125 grams sweet corn (if canned, drain the liquid. If fresh, boil and remove from stalk)
Fried shallots
  1. Rinse 1/2 of quinoa under running water and place in a pot/saucepan.
  2. Add 1 cup of water. Bring to boil then reduce to simmer. Cover the pot with a lid, stirring occasionally. The quinoa will soak up the water in about 10 minutes. It is ready when there’s no more water, but be careful not to let it burn.
  3. Place in a dish. You can serve the quinoa warm or chilled.
  4. Add tofu, avocado, tomato and sweet corn to the quinoa. Top with fried shallots.
  5. There is no need for a dressing, I find it tasty enough as is, but if you feel like you need a dressing, something light like a chilli & lime dressing would probably go well.
Serves 2.

17 Thoughts on “recipe | quinoa and tofu salad (my weekday staple)

  1. I feel like you’ve written this post just for me seeing as I drool of your tweets of this lunch daily. So simple, but man it looks good. Making this for lunch next week! Thanks Catty & enjoy SA…jealous.

  2. Have you noticed quinoa is way more popular in Oz than in the UK. It is everywhere here in Melbourne – I even had it in a burrito the other day! That said, I am feeling quite partial to it at the moment.

  3. I wish someone would come up with instant quinoa.. I prefer quinoa to couscous, but end up cooking couscous a lot more coz it’s so easy. Boil water, pour over couscous, eat. This is the big lazy bum in me talking though. πŸ˜›

  4. I do love tofu! But I try to eat less tofu and more tempeh nowadays… This salad sounds delicious and quinoa is definitely a staple at our house too πŸ™‚ Safe travels! xx

  5. hehehe. you really like fried shallots too! have a good trip to S. Africa.

  6. i LOVE quinoa too thanks for sharing!

  7. You’re hilarious Catty! And you know those 30 day challenges for photographs? Wouldn’t it be hilarious if you did your quinoa salad every day! πŸ˜€

  8. Su-yin: but quinoa is SO easy to make??? Boil for 10 mins and hey presto?! how lazy are you hahaha πŸ˜‰

    Maria: I am yet to try tempeh. Have seen it next to the tofu at the supermarket. I will get some next time!

    mc: I sure do haha. I have them with everything!

    betty: πŸ˜€

    Lorraine: hahaha I could totally do quinoa a photo a day!

  9. I LOVE quinoa…..I’ve not thought of having it for lunch everyday…but seems a great idea!

  10. I LOVE quinoa! When I was in Peru recently I took a class to learn how to make Peruvian food and we made several dishes with quinoa. So tasty and so healthy!

  11. Hahaha Catty that’s so funny because I basically do the same thing πŸ˜› I go on phases where I love something and eat so much of it ~ but then one day I’ll get so sick of it that even the look of it will make me sick hehe

    This is a great salad πŸ™‚ so healthy! I’ve never cooked with quinoa before but heard it’s really healthy ~ gonna give this salad a go soon!

  12. I think habit is good as long as its as healthy as this baby πŸ˜‰

  13. Kay: Well, it’s an easy and yummy option πŸ™‚

    SarahKate: Nice!

    Daisy: Haha yeah, I think most of us obsessive people are like that πŸ™‚

    Nic: That’s right. Don’t mention my ice cream habit either ok!

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