Impress Party Guests with Curried Quinoa Salad

Being a food blogger, I feel a lot of pressure when Im invited to a potluck. Over the years Ive managed to quell this anxiety by keeping it simple and having a stable of crowd pleasers at the ready. This curried quinoa salad is one of those dishes never fails delight and its ridiculously simply to make.

A confetti of wholesome ingredients its as fun to eat as it is delicious. With earthy pine nuts, sweet cranberries, verdant parsley, creamy yogurt and a wonderful bouquet of spices from the curry powder, it presents different flavors with every bite, keeping you going back for more.

Not only is it gluten-free, it can easily be made vegan by substituting soy yogurt for the yogurt. For the dried fruit and nuts, currants, raisins, dried apricots, slivered almonds, and walnuts all make wonderful substitutes depending on what you have on hand. And if for some reason you dont have/dont like quinoa, couscous and farro both make great bases for this versatile salad.

While some brands of quinoa come pre-washed, if yours doesnt or youre not sure, you need to thoroughly wash it. Quinoa seeds are naturally coated with a bitter tasting compound called saponin. If you dont wash it all off it will make your quinoa taste bitter.