Lemon-herb tofu with Mediterranean rice
Herb-roasted tofu with rice, courgette and parsley.
About 45 min · 470 kcal · 31 g protein per serving
Vegan
Quinoa, chickpea and herb salad with tahini
Cooked quinoa and chickpeas with a great deal of herb and a tahini dressing.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 20 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm the tahini loosens to a pouring dressing with water after seizing
- Photograph the finished bowl
- Time
- About 20 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 575 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 23 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains sesame.
Cooking steps
Whisk the tahini with the lemon juice and the oil. It will seize into a stiff paste; add cold water a tablespoon at a time, whisking, until it pours from the spoon.
Put the cooked quinoa and the drained chickpeas in a large bowl with the diced cucumber.
Pour over the dressing and fold everything together.
Chop the parsley and mint at the last moment and stir them through just before serving.
The useful detail
Chop the herbs immediately before serving. Cut early, they darken at the edges and lose the fresh note you put them there for, which on a salad this plain is most of the flavour.
Make it work for you
One serving is A large bowl, half the salad. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Couscous instead of quinoa
Lighter and finer. Quinoa is gluten-free and couscous is wheat.
Per serving: about 80 kcal more, about 2 g more protein, about 2 g less fat.
Allergens: Couscous adds gluten.
Butter beans instead of chickpeas
Softer and creamier.
Per serving: about 50 kcal less, about the same protein, about 5 g less fat.
Greek yoghurt whisked into the dressing, 100 g
Milder and creamier, and it adds protein.
Allergens: Adds milk.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A lunch with no cooking at all, where chickpeas and tahini between them do the work a piece of meat would otherwise do.
| Energy | 575 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 23 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| of which saturates | 3 g |
| Carbohydrate | 79 g |
| of which sugars | not calculated |
| Fibre | 18 g |
| Sodium | 510 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tahini | 30 g | FDC 168604Seeds, sesame butter, tahini, type of kernels unspecified | 178 kcal | 5.2 g |
| lemon juice | 31 g | FDC 167747Lemon juice, raw | 7 kcal | 0.1 g |
| olive oil | 9 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 80 kcal | 0.0 g |
| cooked quinoa | 240 g | FDC 168917Quinoa, cooked | 288 kcal | 10.6 g |
| chickpeas | 400 g | FDC 173800Chickpeas (garbanzo beans, bengal gram), mature seeds, canned, drained solids | 556 kcal | 28.2 g |
| cucumber | 200 g | FDC 168409Cucumber, with peel, raw | 30 kcal | 1.3 g |
| parsley | 20 g | FDC 170416Parsley, fresh | 7 kcal | 0.6 g |
| fresh mint | 15 g | FDC 173475Spearmint, freshFresh mint is 44 kcal per 100 g on FoodData Central 173475, so the few grams a recipe uses add 2 kcal at most. That record has no sugars value, so the mint is listed here rather than counted, which keeps the recipe's sugars calculable. | · | · |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 1146 kcal | 46.0 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Ingredients marked “Not calculated” are excluded and could add at most 3 kcal to the whole recipe. of which sugars could not be calculated, because one ingredient’s record does not cover it; the row above says which. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cover and refrigerate for 3 to 4 days. Add the herbs fresh each time rather than storing them stirred through.
- Reheating
- Not needed; this is a cold dish.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
Try another recipe
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Pasta in a smooth roasted pepper and silken tofu sauce.
About 25 min · 355 kcal · 18 g protein per serving
Vegan