Middle Eastern spiced quinoa (low fodmap edition!)

This Middle Eastern-inspired quinoa salad is bright, fresh and full of contrast - fluffy quinoa, crunchy pistachios, sweet pops of date and a tangy, jewel-like dressing that steals the show. The real hero here is the pomegranate molasses, which adds a deep sweet-sour richness that instantly makes this salad feel special, without tipping it out of low fodmap territory. It’s the kind of dish that looks beautiful on the table, tastes even better, and proves gut-friendly food never has to be boring.

Ingredients

(Serves 2)

1.5 cup tri-colour quinoa (1 cup or 192g is the low fodmap serving size per person)

1 x carrot, grated

75g cooked edamame beans (1/2 cup or 75g is the low fodmap serving size per person). I used a frozen pack in beans still in the shell and left 175g on the bench for an hour to defrost and then de-shelled them. This resulted in 75g of unshelled edamame beans.

10g (14 nuts) pistachios, chopped (7 nuts is the low fodmap serving size per person. It’s easy to go nuts so do stick to the low fodmap serving size is you’re sensitive to GOS)

2 x medjool dates, chopped (1 x 20g date is the low fodmap serving size per person). Be careful with your date size. The dates I bought (minus the seed) were all over 30g each so it’s easy to go over the fodmap limit!)

Purple microherbs

Salt and pepper

Dressing

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp Pomegranate molasses (you could use date syrup or even maple syrup if you can’t find pomegranate molasses but boy was this a find. It tastes delicious!)

1 tbsp lemon juice

A pinch of sumac

1 tbsp fresh dill

1 tbsp fresh mint

Method

1. Cook quinoa, according to the instructions on the packet. (Do you soak it overnight in water and a tablespoon of yoghurt to remove bitterness? Does it make a difference?)

2. Mix the salad ingredients together in a bowl.

3. Whisk the dressing and toss with the salad.

4. Season well.