Spelt salad with mango vinaigrette

May 20th, 2008 @ 17:47

What a day it’s been. I was sick yesterday and couldn’t go to work and today was so so. Alex spent all morning today updating and redoing my blog from scratch. Pretty much everything looks the same, but the code has been changed quite a bit (it should load faster now) and we’ve done some small tweaks. If anything isn’t working like it should please let me know so we can fix it. It should look OK in IE now too, which is great.

mango vinaigrette

Other things going on.. well, we had this wonderful spelt salad today with a fruity and tangy mango vinaigrette. That was nice. It was also not too hard on my stomach which is still quite upset from yesterdays sickness. And most of all, this was delicous and addictive. I could see myself eating this all summer. Making fruit vinaigrettes is such a fantastic thing to do.. another favourite of mine is a raspberry vinaigrette, or one with strawberries, lime and basil. Yum.

The spelt salad itself was simple and made with easy to find, delicous ingredients. The mix was great, creamy avocado, crunchy pumpkin seeds, nutty and chewy spelt which made for an interesting eating experience. If you don’t have white balsamico the normal kind works just as well, it just has a different colour.

Spelt salad

Spelt salad: Serves 2-3

  • 200 ml (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) whole spelt berries
  • 1 small red onion
  • 1 tsp white balsamico
  • 1/4 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp oil
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 avocado
  • 4 sun dried tomatoes in oil (drained)
  • 500 ml (2 cups) loosely packed spinach
  • 4 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 4 tbsp pumpkin seeds

Cook spelt berries according to instructions (mine takes 1 part spelt, 2 parts water and a little salt and needs to simmer for 20-25 mins). Drain and let the spelt cool. Meanwhile, cut the red onion into thin half moons and mix in a small bowl with the balsamico, oil and sugar and let marinade while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. This makes the onion more mellow and much tastier. Thinly slice your carrot into half moons. Dice the avocado and finely chop the sundried tomatoes. Tear the spinach into smaller pieces. Mix all the vegetables together in a big bowl and add the spelt. Mix in the chopped parsley and lastly put the pumkin seeds on top. Serve with nice bread and the mango vinaigrette.

Mango vinaigrette: Serves 2-3

  • 60 ml (1/4 cup) cubed mango (I use frozen, thawed)
  • 3 tbsp white balsamico
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/8 tsp ground chili flakes
  • salt and black pepper

In a small mixer or blender, mix the mango, balsamico and oilve oil until it’s smooth. Add in the chili flakes and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Enjoy!

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17 Comments

  1. I have firefox and it the site loads a lot faster (just for information). I love your mango vinaigrette, mango adds a little something to a salad, and I can imagine it goes very well with balsamico, white or not. Thanks!

    Comment by Alice (in Veganland) - May 20th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

  2. That salad looks so so so good. the dressing looks so easy to make, thanks for sharing! mmmm

    Comment by candice - May 21st, 2008 at 12:50 am

  3. That salad looks amazing, and Trader Joes just happened to have white balsamic on sale last week!

    Comment by Rural Vegan - May 21st, 2008 at 5:24 pm

  4. Mango vinaigrette! Nothing could be more perfect for the summer - this salad looks so colorful and refreshing! I’ll have to keep my eye out for spelt berries.

    Your website is gorgeous too - everything loaded fine in IE for me, except there’s just these thick blue borders around the photos. if you set border=0 inside the img tags, that should fix it.

    Comment by ruby red vegan - May 21st, 2008 at 10:04 pm

  5. I’m sorry you were sick- and glad you’re better!

    And that salad looks and sounds phenomenal. Perfection! I have to try mango vinaigrette. I also love cherry vinaigrette (balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, cherry preserves, garlic, and olive oil - it rocks!)

    I use Firefox, and your blog always looks good to me.

    Comment by bazu - May 21st, 2008 at 10:45 pm

  6. Having the borders around the images is actually intended, but that colour was not - Fixed the border colours in IE now.

    Comment by Alex - May 21st, 2008 at 10:50 pm

  7. This looks so healthy and delicious, I would certainly feel good after eating that :)

    Comment by Dreamy - May 22nd, 2008 at 1:04 pm

  8. I hope you’re feeling better. I’m sure you are, if you ate that lovely, vitamin-C rich salad.

    Comment by urbanvegan - May 23rd, 2008 at 3:11 pm

  9. Ooh, that sounds SO good!

    Comment by Melisser - May 24th, 2008 at 8:31 am

  10. you weren’t kidding when you said you were going to be using spelt berries, what a gorgeous salad! and thank you for the mango recipe, it sounds perfect for summer. I hope you feel better soon!

    Comment by Liz² - May 25th, 2008 at 3:38 am

  11. Wow, your site really is much faster! Thank you.

    The spelt salad looks so beautiful. I love spelt berries and feel better soon!

    Comment by Mihl - May 25th, 2008 at 1:41 pm

  12. That looks really delicious! The site is working well on firefox, though it did take a few minutes to load the first time around, then after it loaded the page, it was just like normal.

    Also, since I’m planning to use a few or more of your recipes, Ive tagged you on my blog, that little 5 question game.

    Comment by sarah - May 26th, 2008 at 2:13 am

  13. that’s one fine looking salad!! yum!

    Comment by stonielove - May 27th, 2008 at 3:18 am

  14. Hi Emmie!! I’m back and my blog is up again. I’ve missed all my pals in blogland and can’t wait to catch up on what you’ve been up to.

    I’ve never actually seen spelt. Honestly, I’ve used spelt flour, but it didn’t dawn on me that spelt was a grain that you could eat. Duh!

    Comment by Vivacious Vegan - May 30th, 2008 at 2:55 am

  15. Whoa that looks awesome!

    Comment by Wheeler's Frozen Desserts - June 8th, 2008 at 10:11 pm

  16. Tillåt mig hänga ut tungan och dreggla över din blogg, den är helt underbar och veggiefood har aldrig sett smarrigare ut. Jag vill prova massor. I´ll be back ;) KRAM!

    Comment by Nostalchic - July 6th, 2008 at 10:04 pm

  17. whoa, it looks delicious! I am gonna copycat you, and make some!

    Comment by smoothie - July 24th, 2008 at 9:19 am

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