Quinoa-Avocado-Mango Salad

With super foods like quinoa & avocado, the options are endless!

Now, this is my kinda salad. Totally filling, perfectly satisfying, incredibly tasty with a touch of sweetness (now you know why I call it my type), I think this is one of a kind salad that anyone could ever ask for! Moreover, mangoes & sweet relish elevated this recipe several notches up. But, if you are a savory person, add finely chopped jalapenos (or) freshly ground pepper powder to the recipe.

I had some quinoa left-overs from this recipe, and I was looking ways to use it up. When I saw this recipe here, I totally fell in love with the idea of adding avocado & mangoes to quinoa. I had all the ingredients in hand and the recipe had no reason to wait. The left-over quinoa saved me time that I decided to use in fancying up the salad with cutesy little whole-wheat bread cones. I used the whole wheat rounds that I got from Costco for cones. Bread-cones & this salad is a match made in culinary heaven. 

My little one ate about 3 cones of salad and I just can't blame him, for it was that good! He loved the salad, the sweetness in the salad (just like me!!) and was bowled-over by the fact that he could eat his cup too!

Basic Info

Complexity - Simple
Prep time - 20-30 mins (quinoa, bread cones, chopping veggies)
Cook time - 5 mins (to assemble)
Serves - 6-8 cones

Ingredients
Cooked Quinoa - 1 cup (left-over works great too!)

Avocado - 1 no
Chopped cilantro - 1/4 cup
Lime juice - from 1/2 lime
Onion powder -  1/4 - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste

Mango - 1/3 cup (Ripe yet firm)
Tomatoes - 1/3 cup (I used grape tomatoes)

Sweet Jalapeno relish - to garnish

Whole wheat rounds - 3-4 pairs
Olive oil - 1-2 tbsp

Method

Cook quinoa as per package instructions. Let it cool and fluff it up. Set it aside.

Cut open the avocado, remove the seed, scoop out the meat. Add salt, lime juice, onion powder, chopped cilantro and mix well until the avocados are mushy. Mix this with quinoa until well combined and set it aside in the refrigerator.

Chop mangoes & tomatoes into tiny cubes and set them aside.

Preheat oven to 375 deg F. 

Use a roller pin to gently flatten the whole-wheat rounds without tearing them. Now, brush little olive oil on both sides of the flattened bread. Shape the bread rounds into cones. Press the edges to seal and gently place the cones into the cupcake tins. Bake in the middle rack for 10 mins (or) until edges of the bread cones are brown & toasted. Remove it out of the oven and let it cool. The bread cones should harden as it cools.

Tip: You could also make small bread bowls like what I did here in this recipe!

Now scoop about 1/8 cup of quinoa-guacamole into the bread cones. Top it with tomatoes & mangoes. Garnish with jalapeno sweet relish. Serve immediately to enjoy these fancy little appetizers / snacks!

You can also serve these appetizers/snacks directly in a serving cup!

Notes

- If you don't have mangoes, you could replace it with pomegranates.

- You could also use other relishes for garnishing (or) skip it altogether.

- Add finely chopped jalapenos / finely chopped red onions to the salad, if you like.

- This salad can be served as an appetizer / after-school snacks / a meal too!

- To make a cone, cut a slit half-way in along the diameter of the bread and roll one of the loose ends in to form a cone.