Now that salad season is upon us with warmer days and festive celebrations ahead, this healthy and attractive salad is a great recipe to have on hand to make for highly-anticipated summer BBQs and gatherings ahead. It’s a lovely vegetarian addition to serve alongside often meat-heavy BBQ fare!
Salad Ingredients:
2 cups of short-grain brown rice
4 cups of water
3 large carrots
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of onion powder
½ a red onion, finely chopped
⅓ cup of currants
200g of goat feta
¾ cup of walnuts
¾ cup of chopped fresh mint leaves
Salt and pepper
Dressing Ingredients:
1/3 cup of olive oil
Juice of one & a half lemons
1 tablespoon of melted honey
1 teaspoon of mustard
½ teaspoon of crushed garlic
Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 200°C
- Cook the brown rice and water (with a pinch of salt) in a rice cooker
- Chop the carrots lengthways and then dice the carrots into approximately 1.5 cm chunks
- Place the carrots in an oven tray, sprinkle with the onion powder and drizzle with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
- Roast in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes, tossing once. Remove from the oven when they are lightly browned.
- Once the rice has cooked, place it in a sieve, and run cold water over it to cool. Drain thoroughly.
- Lightly fry the walnuts with a drizzle of oil in a frypan on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove once they are starting to brown and then set aside to cool.
- Crumble the feta. Place the cooled rice, red onion, currants, walnuts and half of the chopped mint and feta into a salad bowl.
- Meanwhile, mix all of the dressing ingredients together and set aside.
- Once the carrots are cooked and cooled slightly, gently stir them into the rice mix along with the walnuts. Mix the dressing into the salad.
- Top with the remaining feta and mint, and season with salt and pepper.
Nutrition Bite:
Brown rice is whole grain rice with a richer, nuttier taste than white rice. It’s nutritiously a better option too, being high in fiber and because the nutritious bran layer remains, it contains valuable phytochemicals like essential amino acids, vitamins, flavonoids, phytic acid, and more. It is a great source of slow-release energy to help sustain energy levels throughout the day.