I have never really loved salad – odd for a nutritionist I know, but true!

A gorgeous dressing though, is another story. And if a salad needs to be the vehicle for the dressing, then so be it. I will admit that salads have come an awfully long way from the iceberg, cucumber and tomatoes I grew up with. Stuffed full of fun ingredients, I am definitely getting a lot more interested.

My current favourites? The South Shore at Wild Greens, the Harvest Bowl at Devil’s Isle, the Elena Salad at Portofino, the Nutrifit Nicoise at Harry’s, the Asian Chopped Salad at The Cloud and the Wild Rice & Lentil Salad at Miles Deli. All of those are completely delicious! But maybe a little complicated to replicate at home.

The trick I find, is to make up a jar of delicious dressing and then just work with whatever ingredients you have left over or sitting doing nothing in your cupboards. It’s easy and economical.

I had half a cauliflower, some leftover quinoa and a tin of chickpeas the other day, which I turned into this wonderful spiced vegan curried salad. It was all about the dressing so the rest of the ingredients are very flexible.

Note that if you’re making a vegan option, then the trick to creating something filling and satisfying is to layer the sources of protein.

If your only source of protein is chickpeas, you’ll be pretty hungry before long – not to mention missing some essential amino acids.

But if you layer chickpeas with quinoa, cashews and pumpkin seeds, you get a much more sustaining and complete picture.

Sources of vegan proteins include beans, lentils, edamame, tofu, tempeh, quinoa, nuts and seeds. But some of these (the beans, lentils and quinoa) contain carbs too, so you might want your overall portion of those to be moderate.

Of course salads don’t have to be vegan, and I often add chicken or salmon to mine, but layering is helpful for the days when you want to be plant-based or only eat plants.

Anyway, whether you add animal proteins or not, enjoy!

Spiced Vegan Curried Salad (makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

4 cups leftover quinoa, soaked, rinsed, cooked

1 tin chickpeas, (garbanzos), drained and rinsed well

½ to a whole cauliflower, broken into florets

½ to 1 cup cashews, salted and toasted

1 box arugula

Salt and pepper

Light olive oil

Dressing:

¼ cup tahini

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

4 tbsps warm water

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

2 tsps maple syrup

1 tsp curry powder

½ tbsp ginger, peeled and freshly grated

½ tsp ground turmeric

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1, Preheat the oven to 400F.

2, Shake up all dressing ingredients in a glass mason jar and set to one side.

3, Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add the cauliflower florets and the chickpeas. Season with salt and pepper and toss in a little light olive oil (light is better at this temperature as it’s less likely to be damaged than extra virgin olive oil).

Bake for 30 minutes or until the chickpeas are crunchy and the cauliflower is tender. Allow to cool.

4, In a large bowl toss the quinoa, chickpeas and cauliflower together in the dressing.

5, Serve each portion on a bed of arugula and scatter the roasted cashews on top. Enjoy!

• Catherine Burns is a fully qualified clinical nutritionist. She can be contacted at 291-4725, clinicalnutrition@gmail.com or look for Nutrifit & Natural Nutrition Bermuda on Facebook or @naturalbda on Instagram