Who says salads have to be boring? I love preparing them: the more colourful the better. This rainbow salad is bright and colourful, just like a rainbow! I love using different veggies, playing with texture, taste and, of course colour! I often use a mixture of raw and cooked vegetables like in this one where I mixed raw carrot and peppers, grilled aubergine and courgette and some cooked chickpeas. The key for a yummy salad is also adding seeds, berries and nuts to give it a bit more crunchiness. In this recipe I sprinkled some chia seeds and handful of goji berries.

Goji berries and chia seeds benefits

In the past few years, Goji berries and chia seeds have exploded in popularity and are now consumed by health conscious people all over the world. Let’s see some of their properties.

The Goji berries, also known aswolfberries, are red berries with a sweet slightly sour taste.They often come in dried form, like raisins, and they are great for salads, breakfast bowls and for baking too. Goji berries are a good source of vitamins and minerals like vitamin A and C, iron, zinc, fibre and antioxidants.

Chia seeds are loaded with nutrients that can have important benefits for your body and brain.They are tiny black seeds from the plant Salvia hispanica, which is related to the mint. About 2 tablespoons of chia seeds contain: zinc, fibre, vitamins B1, B2 and B3, potassium, magnesium. Chia seeds are high in antioxidants too, that fight the production of free radicals, which can damage cell molecules and contribute to aging.

Goji berries and chia seeds are both considered super foods and they not only are great for your health but also very tasty! So, if you don’t eat them already, you should definitely consider adding them to your diet.

Rainbow salad with grilled veggies, chia seeds and goji berries

Prep Time:30 minutes

Cook Time:15 minutes

Servings:2 people

Ingredients

• aubergines , large: 1
• courgettes , big: 1
• carrots , big: 3
• avocado , not too ripe: 1
• chickpeas , canned and drained: 100 grams
• peppers , 1/2 red and 1/2 yellow
• goji berries: 1 tablespoon
• chia seeds: 1 teaspoon
• lemons , the filtered juice: 1
• extra virgin olive oil: 1 tablespoon
• sea salt , to taste
• black pepper , to taste

Instructions

1. To prepare the rainbow salad start cutting the aubergine into round slices 5 mm thick and the courgette lengthwise into 3 mm thick slices.
2. Heat a griddle pan and griddle the aubergine and courgette slices, without oiling, until charred on each side and softening. Arrange them on a plate to cool down then cut them into 1 cm wide strips.
3. Peel the carrots and cut the ends off. If you like short julienne strips, cut the carrots in two. Grab the vegetable firmly and tuck your fingers away so you don’t cut your self. Place a julienne peeler at a 45-degree angle at the top of the vegetable and press down while sliding to the bottom. Repeat this several times. I find it convenient to turn the carrots after a few repetitions. I don’t grate the entire carrots because in the end the vegetable is too small to hold it safely. I cut the leftovers in small pieces and eat them while preparing the salad.
4. Slice the peppers. Mix all the veggies into a big salad bowl with the drained chickpeas.
5. Prepare the avocado flowers to garnish the salad. Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit and peel off the skin. Lay one half of the avocado, cut side down, and slice the avocado thinly. You want the slices to be quite thin so that they’re easier to shape. Fan out avocado slices so that they form a long line with the slices overlapping each other. Starting from one end, curl avocado slices toward the center. Continue curling the avocado slices until you get a rose. Repeat with the other half.
6. Divide the salad into too serving bowls and top each with an avocado flower. Mix the lemon juice with the oil and a pinch of salt and pepper and use to dress the salad. Sprinkle with the chia seeds and the goji berries and serve.