I had a minor cooking emergency recently… I went to make this salad, and couldn’t find the recipe ANYWHERE! I knew what the piece of paper looked like, and even thought I knew where I’d last seen it, but to no avail.
I Googled, and found a number of similar recipes, but none that were quite the same. No, it wouldn’t do. It had to be THIS one.
Luckily, this salad is so yummy, I don’t think I’ve ever taken it along to a BBQ without having been asked for the recipe. I knew some work people had once asked for it, and thankfully my work has a permanent searchable email archive…. and yes, thank goodness, I found an email from November 2011 with the recipe attached. Crisis averted!
It’s funny that I have given this recipe to so many people, as that’s exactly how it started for me… my parents went to dinner at their friends house, and their host had made this salad. Mum loved it and asked for the recipe, and her friend Kathy photocopied it for her then and there. Mum knew I would love it to, and so immediately made a copy for me… and the rest is history.
There are loads of things I like about this recipe:
Rice salads are often bland or boring, but not this one!
It makes a huge quantity for relatively low effort and minimal ingredients.
It’s really quick and easy… although definitely best if you’re organised enough to do the rice the night before.
It’s a lovely dish to take to Christmas BBQs, with its festive colours!
Everyone always loves it 🙂
Plus, as an added bonus on the offchance there are any leftovers, it’s great for lunch the next day too – either cold as is, or heated slighly in the microwave for something different. Sometimes if I have it for lunch I’ll stir some cooked chicken or a tin of tuna through it as well, but usually only if there’s not much left… if there’s enough left for a “normal” portion, it’s substantial enough as it is.
I hope you love this salad as much as I do! And now we’ll never lose the recipe 🙂
Brown rice salad
1 cup uncooked brown rice
1 3/4 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 medium sized brown onion
3 spring onions
1 red pepper
1/2 cup sultanas
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
1/2 cup each of toasted sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds
Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil (or any other oil you like to use)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp honey
Ideally the night before:
Place rice and unsalted water in a tightly covered pot and simmer for 45 minutes until the rice is tender and the water has all been absorbed. Add the soy sauce and finely chopped brown onion to the hot cooked rice, mix well, then leave for at least 2 hours or overnight if you have the time.
After the standing time for the rice:
Chop the spring onions finely using their green leaves as well.
Cut the red pepper into tiny cubes. If red peppers are expensive, replace the pepper with a coarsely grated carrot.
Run the sultanas under a hot tap in a sieve if they need plumping up, drain well then add them to the other ingredients.
Coarsely chop the roasted peanuts -it does not matter whether they are salted or not.
If you have not already toasted your supply of pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seed, toast them now arranging them in shallow foil dishes or on pieces of foil with the edges turned up, under a grill. Remove each type before it browns too much. Or, what I often do instead is, carefully dry fry them in a small pan. Be sure to stir constantly so they don’t burn. I start with the larger sunflower and pumpkin seeds and then add the sesame seeds a couple of minutes later. You will smell when they’re ready, as they will start to release a nutty aroma. Also use the colour as a judge… they should be starting to turn golden, but if they’re heading to dark brown, get them off the heat as they’re starting to burn.
Add all these ingredients to the rice mix, and mix through a couple of times – I like to have started the mixing process before adding the dressing, as it just makes it easier to get an even coating on everything.
Make the dressing by combining all the dressing ingredients in a screw top jar and shake until smooth – it will go opaque and look quite creamy. Alternatively you could do this in a food processor, but I find a jar works well for the small quantity.
Mix the dressing through the rice mixture – stir thoroughly until all ingredients are well mixed and all the rice appears to have a light coating of the dressing.
Over the last few weeks, Emma’s Food Bag has had a real summer focus – lots of simple yet tasty meals using beautifully light and fresh ingredients, and often involving cooking on the BBQ, which has been fantastic. We tend to go through stages with our BBQ, but certainly last year we barely used it just for the two of us, so it’s been great to get back into that habit. Nothing says summer like me perching on the deck railing with a wine after work, chatting to Pete while he cooks the BBQ, beer in hand…!
In addition to reintroducing summer BBQs for two, the food bag has also delivered some gems when it comes to side dishes, some of which I already know I’ll make time and again when required to “take a plate” this summer. The orzo salad has already made two appearances since we first had it as a food bag meal, and it’s gone down a treat each time.
What I like about these recipes is that they’re just a bit different. I’m not really a “green salad” kind of gal (in fact, the best compliment I ever received about my green salad was that it was “a man version of green salad” which meant it “only had the good bits” in it!), but so often the salad repertoire at a BBQ is green salad, potato and/or roast veg salad, and possibly a pasta salad, and that’s it. The following recipes all fit loosely into these same three categories, but are just different enough to be a refreshing change from the norm.
Enjoy!
Sun-dried tomato orzo salad
I have adapted this recipe slightly from the original food bag version, the main difference being the addition of spinach. I suspect feta would work pretty well in it too, if tossed through once everything had cooled, but I haven’t tried that yet. In the version I made today, I added a grated courgette to the sauce as well… it wasn’t really a big enough quantity to notice, but it certainly wasn’t a bad addition.
The recipe below is a double quantity from what the food bag recipe was. I’ve made the double batch both times I’ve taken it to BBQs, where there’s been about eight adults. While we’ve had a lot leftover both times, I feel that the single quantity (i.e. halving what’s below) would look a bit measly as a contribution for a large group meal; therefore, I’m still inclined to make the big batch and then have the leftovers for lunch during the week. Trust me, working through these leftovers is not a hardship!
300g orzo
200g sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
4 small tomatoes, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed/minced
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
4 Tbsp marjoram
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 carrot, grated
150g artichoke hearts (drained, if in brine)
120g baby spinach (1 bag)
Salt & pepper
Cook orzo for approx. seven minutes, until tender but firm. Drain, rinse, and set aside.
Briefly heat oil in a pan, then add garlic, carrot, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, red wine vinegar & marjoram.
Cook until juices start to simmer and vegetables begin to soften.
Season to taste with salt & pepper, then add artichokes.
Add spinach and allow to wilt (I like to put a lid on at this point for a couple of minutes, to speed up the wilting process). Once wilted, stir it through and then add the orzo and mix everything together.
Check seasoning again, then remove from heat. This can be served hot or cold… or somewhere in the middle. It’s good every way!
Cherry tomato & cucumber rice salad
Given I don’t really like cucumber, and Pete doesn’t like cherry tomatoes, I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy upon receiving this recipe in the Food Bag. However, it was unexpectedly yummy. What’s more, I’ve discovered that I really don’t mind cucumber if it’s cut finely enough. On reflection, this shouldn’t have been a surprise, as I’ve never liked chunks of cucumber in salad but I’ve always liked tzatziki. In making this salad, I used my mezzaluna to slice the cucumber into very thin rounds, and really liked it.
When we had it for dinner, we had it as per the recipe below. When I had it for lunch (pictured), I also added some diced capsicum that I had left over from something else. It was nice, but I didn’t think it added enough to make it a permanent addition – I think this recipe is definitely in the “keep it simple” camp; the tomato and cucumber really are sufficient. After taking the picture, I also stirred through some tuna to bulk it up for lunch, and it was great.
120g long grain rice
2 stalks spring onion
175g cherry tomatoes
1/2 telegraph cucumber
10g coriander
2 Tbsp rice bran oil
1/2 Tbsp white wine vinegar (you could use lime juice instead)
1/2 tsp sugar
Salt & pepper
Cook rice for 12-15 minutes until just cooked. Remove from heat and immediately drain in a colander and run cold water through it to stop the rice cooking.
Spread rice out on a tray or chopping board to dry and cool completely. NOTE: this is the sort of step I would normally skim over, but I did it this time and think it made a real difference to the success of the salad, as it kept the rice nice and firm, and meant there were nice individual grains instead of having the rice sticking or clumping.
Slice spring onion thinly. Halve cherry tomatoes. Cut cucumber into thin rounds, and then chop rounds into quarters. Chop coriander.
Mix all of the above into a salad bowl with the cooled rice.
Whisk together oil, vinegar (or lime juice), and sugar, and season to taste. Stir dressing into rice salad just before serving.
Bean salad with cumin dressing
I’ll be the first to admit… I scanned this recipe, saw lentils, and immediately got nervous; needless to say, lentils are not a regular feature in our house! However, this was a great salad and a filling alternative to potatoes or pasta. What’s more, the leftovers the next day were an awesome, protien-packed lunch which set me up well to head straight to the gym from work.
While I refer to this dish as an alternative to potatoes or pasta, it’s worth mentioning that, although Pete liked this dish, he thought it needed to be more firmly in the “sides” camp. By which I mean, we had it with schnitzel, where the beans took up about half the plate. Pete commented it would have been better as “a quarter of the plate”, with the other quarter being a different side dish. I think it’s a matter of personal taste though… I was quite happy with the bean to meat ratio, without needing a third item on my plate. Also, if you were to take this to a BBQ, it would likely end up as just one spoonful on a plate of variety, so I think it would work well in that situation.
1 tin brown lentils
1 tin red kidney beans (in brine, not sauce)
1 tin butter beans
100g feta cheese
1 yellow capsicum
1 courgette
25g parsley
2 tsp cumin
4 Tbsp rice bran oil
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
Salt & pepper
Drain lentils and beans. Rinse in a sieve, then leave in sieve to drain for a few minutes to dry.
Whisk together 2 Tbsp of the oil, the vinegar, cumin, and sugar to make the dressing. Season to taste.
Finely slice courgette and capsicum. Heat the remaining 2 Tbsp of oil to a medium heat in a non-stick pan and add courgette and capsicum. Cook until just softened, then stir in lentils and beans.
Remove from the heat and place in a large salad bowl. Add dressing and gently mix it together, being carefully not to break up the beans.
Crumble in feta and add parsley. Season to taste.
NOTE: The more you allow the bean mixture to cool before adding the feta, the more your feta will hold its shape. I mixed it in when the bean mixture was quite hot, so it melted quite a lot. When we had it for dinner, I served it up while it was still quite hot. However, I had it cold the next day for lunch, and it was still nice. I think next time I would allow the beans etc to cool a lot more before adding the feta, but would aim to serve it “warm” – i.e. somewhere in the middle of the two ways I’ve had it so far.
Rainbow salad
The final salad in this list is one I’ve already blogged about, way back in week one of the food bag. This is a great spin on a “green salad”, and a wonderful way to incorporate fresh beetroot into your meal, which I just love. It also uses my newfound favourite, rocket. Plus, the best bit, it takes all of about five minutes to throw together, so it’s a great option if you find yourself accepting a last-minute invite.
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 orange, juiced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 carrot, grated
1 beetroot, grated
100g wild rocket
Salt & pepper
Mix the balsamic vinegar, orange juice and 2 Tbsp olive oil in a salad bowl. Season.
Place the grated beetroot in the bowl, then the carrot, and lastly the rocket on top.
Set aside until just ready to serve. Don’t mix it until the last minute so the rocket doesn’t bruise and wilt, and the beetroot doesn’t discolour the other ingredients. The beetroot will marinade with the dressing in the bottom and its juices enhance the flavour of the dressing.
white's kitchen 