So as the weather gets warmer, we tend to opt for colder dishes over dense, warm foods. This is also a time of year though, when we can get outside a lot more and move our bodies! So we need food that keeps us energised, healthy and feeling good.
Make this big salad and share it at a Spring picnic, Summer barbeque, or keep it to use throughout the week when you have no time to prepare a brand new lunch or dinner.
*If you add some fresh spinach leaves, and an avocado (or egg for non-vegans) to this recipe, it makes a quick and complete meal in itself!
Ingredients
- 1 cup of Brown basmati rice
- Sunflower seeds
- Walnuts
- Red and yellow peppers (You can use green if you like, although I’m aware that most people go out of their way to buy bags of peppers without the green ones in there!)
- Sundried tomatoes, cut up
- Celery, chopped up
- Can of beans (or cooked dry beans) – you could use cans of 3 bean salad, black beans (which have more protein), black eyed beans, or cannellini beans.
Dressing
- 2 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
- 4 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 tsp Honey
- 1 tsp Wholegrain mustard
- Pinch of Himalayan mountain salt
Cooking and preparing your rice
- Pre-soak your brown basmati rice in cold water for an hour
- Rinse thoroughly in a sieve
- Put the rice in a saucepan with 2 and-a-little-bit cups of water
- Bring this all gently to the boil
- When the water is boiling, place a tight fitting lid on top and turn the heat down to the lowest possible setting so that it’s just simmering
- Leave for 25 minutes *Do not be temped to peek! This will spoil the whole thing….
- After 25 minutes, take the pan off the heat
- Place 2 sheets of kitchen roll – or a clean cloth – over the pan and place the lid back on (this absorbs the steam and stops the rice from becoming too sticky)
- Leave to cool……
Then….
- Tip the rice in to a big bowl – fork it through well to separate the grains.
- Then simply add all of your other ingredients (minus the dressing) to the big bowl of rice!
- Add the dressing to the salad around an hour before serving, stir, and leave to let the flavours infuse.
This salad keeps in the fridge for around a week (as long as it doesn’t all get eaten straight away!)
Leave a Reply