A hearty freekeh salad jammed with earthy sweet roasted beetroot, salty preserved lemons, crunchy seeds, nuts and fresh herbs. This a great recipe you can make ahead of time and enjoy any day of the week. Exploding in flavour and texture, our freekeh grain salad satisfies with every element.
Bring to boil 2½ cups of water. Add one cup of freekeh and boil it on medium heat for 35-40 minutes. Let the grain fully absorb all the liquid. Cooking time may vary, so check the labels on the packaging.
Preheat oven to 180OC or 350OF.Trim the green tops off the baby beets, give them a good wash, place in foil and season with salt.Wrap foil parcel up tightly and roast in the oven for 45-55 minutes.Remove beets from the oven. After the beetroot has cooled down, peel the skin off.
Over medium-hot heat, toast pine nuts, chopped almonds, sunflower seeds and pepitas in a frypan until lightly brown. It will only take about 1-2 minutes.
Wash and roughly chop cilantro and parsley.
Remove preserved lemons from the jar and roughly chop into smaller pieces.
Salad Dressing
In a small mixing bowl, add the plain Greek yoghurt, olive oil, honey, lemon juice, crushed garlic and sumac and mix well together.
Assembly
In a large mixing bowl, place freekeh, roasted beets, preserved lemons, dried cranberries and mixed seeds and nuts.
Lightly mix together and toss in with chopped cilantro and parsley.
Tumble into your serving bowl and drizzle half the yoghurt dressing over the salad.
Leave the remainder of the dressing in a small bowl and serve.
Notes
Omit the pine nuts and almonds in the salad if you need a nut free salad. Add extra pumpkin or sunflower seeds.
If you can’t find sumac, add a little lemon zest to the yoghurt dressing.
You can try fresh lemons instead of preserved lemons or alternatively roasted lemon slices like our Roast Vegetables and Quinoa salad.
Switch Greek yoghurt with your favourite plant-based yoghurt and use rice malt syrup instead of honey in the dressing for a vegan salad.
You can let freekeh sit in a covered pot to steam for a few minutes for a fluffier texture.
Make sure to cover the salad well with the yoghurt dressing