There are days when all I want to eat is a nice big bowl of salad. I would not have said the same 20 odd years ago. When I first moved to Sweden, my first meal when I landed in Uppsala was a bowl of greek salad. I was astounded that my lunch was a big bowl of salad. At that time, we mostly ate South Indian food and anything exotic was North Indian or Chinese. Also, the salads were served as a small side and most of the times it was just cucumber, onion and tomatoes. But here I had a big bowl of salads with olives and feta (which I had not seen before). I ate it apprehensively. Today, I would kill for a greek salad.

This is a lovely salad where the beetroot and sweet potatoes and roasted to bring out the sweetness. I have also added carrots. There is some quinoa too to make it a more hearty salad.

Ingredients:

2 medium beetroots

2 carrots (optional)

2 medium sweet potatoes

1/2 cup quinoa (you can also try foxtail millets or sorghum (jowar) or any other millets of your choice

1 1/2 cups water or stock

1 small bunch of romaine lettuce

a handful of walnuts

a handful of cranberries (optional)

1/2 avocado (optional)

1-2 tbsp goat cheese (optional)

Dressing:

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp honey

1 tsp dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Heat oven to 425º F (220ºC).

Cube beetroot, sweet potato, and carrots. Season with salt and pepper and a tbsp of olive oil. Spread on a baking pan. Bake for around 25 minutes or until soft.

In a pan heat water or stock. Add quinoa and cook for around 20 minutes (till the quinoa is cooked).  Set aside.

Add all ingredients for dressing in a bowl or glass bottle and whisk/shake till dressing emulsifies.

Chop lettuce. Toss with all the other ingredients. Add dressing and mix.

Enjoy!