Quinoa kosambari, quick and easy salad made with quinoa and moong dal with fresh flavors. An easy and colorful salad.
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About the Recipe
Kosambari, a simple indian salad, made with moong-dal, spiced up with green chilies and coconut. To make it more colorful we can add carrots, raw mango, etc. The usual kosambari is tempered with mustard seeds and green chilies, whereas i have omitted the tempering in the recipe.
Why Quinoa ?
I have used quinoa and moong dal here, to make this salad more filling and colorful. Apart from being the most popular health food, it is gluten-free, high in protein and one of the few plant foods that contain all the essential amino acids.
For someone like me who has Insulin resistance, we need to be watchful about our carb sources. After consulting a nutritionist, we decided to use more of quinoa in my meals. I m a happy girl with quinoa. When my house members enjoy rice, I happily swapped my plate with quinoa. It keeps me satiated and at the same time I don't have to worry much about spiking my insulin levels.
Quinoa Salad
I have used tricolor quinoa in my recipe today. This quinoa kosambari, doesn't have any fancy spice, just green chilies, ginger and fresh coconut, which adds oodles of flavor to the salad.
This colorful quinoa salad, can be served as part of a meal or as a meal by itself. I would love to have it anytime as a meal by itself, with a tall glass of buttermilk or lassi to compliment it.

If you love chickpeas, here is another hearty salad with quinoa and chickpeas, another favorite quinoa recipe.
The Ingredients
- Quinoa, i have used organic tricolor quinoa in this quinoa kosambari recipe. You can use any variety of quinoa.
- Moong dal, adds volume to the kosambari.
- Vegetables, i have used chopped onions, grated carrots in this quinoa kosambari along with some fresh coconut.
- Spices, the quinoa salad used chilies, ginger and lemon juice to flavor it.
- mint leaves for garnish.
If you have tried this recipe and like it, give it a star rating or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #icampinmmykitchen and tagging me @priyasrinivasan. You could follow me and my recipes on Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | twitter
More Quinoa Recipes
Recipe

Quinoa kosambari | Quinoa & Moong dal salad
Ingredients
Ingredients (serves 3)
- ¼ cup tricolor quinoa when cooked yields 1 cup
- ⅓ cup Moong dal
- ½ an onion chopped thin (optional, omit for a sattvic meal)
- 1 no green chili chopped fine
- 2 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 no medium sized carrot grated
- ¼ cup freshly grated coconut
- 2 tablespoon mint leaves finely chopped
- lemon juice, as needed
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash and soak moong dal, in water for 20 minutes. After the said time, drain the moong dal completely. I left it to drain in the colander for 10 minutes.
- Wash and rinse quinoa in water. I cooked the quinoa in Microwave, it can also be cooked on stove-top. Take the rinsed quinoa in a microwave safe bowl, add ¾ cup of water, Microwave @ high for 10 minutes, stir it once in between.
- Take it out, there won't be any excess water, if there is any, drain and set aside until use. ¼ cup quinoa, when cooked yielded 1 cup of quinoa.
- Now take cooked quinoa and moong dal in a large bowl, add shredded carrot, shredded ginger, chopped green chili, grated coconut and mint leaves, mix well. Add salt, lemon juice and mix again.
- Let it sit for 5 minutes for the flavors to mingle, Serve with some mint leaves garnished.
Disclaimer
I m not a Doctor or a Nutritionist The Nutrition information provided above comes from the plugin and is only an estimate.
Enjoy this delicious salad with quinoa and moong dal as a meal. They can also be packed for lunch, if packing, then keep the dressing separate to mix later.
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Gayathri Kumar
Kosambari with quinoa sounds so innovative. This salad itself looks like a filling meal..
vaishali sabnani
wow..I love the tri color look..it looks so good.I have bookmarked this one to make soon, I got quinoa from Amsterdam and will make this salad..it looks super cool.
MySpicyKitchen
That is such a filling kosambari! I thought of making kosambari last week and later dropped the idea.
Nalini's Kitchen
Kosambari with quinoa sounds interesting and innovative,looks so colorful too..
Priya Suresh
Omg, kosambari with quinoa, wat an innovative dish Priya, nutritious and interesting salad.
Srividhya
That tricolor quinoa sounds super interesting. Will see if I can find them here. very nice share
Harini R
This salad sounds so yumm and colorful too.
Kalyani
very cool salad there 🙂 must hunt down this tricolour quinoa soon 🙂
Sandhya Ramakrishnan
That is one hearty kosambari and love the use of tri color quinoa.
Suma Gandlur
Loving your quinoa twist to this healthy bowl of kosumbari.
cookingwithsapana
Wow kosambri with Quinoa looks so refreshing and delicious.
Smruti Ashar
Kosambari with quinoa is a great idea. Loved the way you made it!!
Pavani
Love the Indian style salad with quinoa. Looks delicious.
veena
This looks so so good. colourful!!
Srivalli
Ok I have the same packet right, will be making it soon..:)