Pumpkin and Red Rice Salad
This Italian-inspired salad from The Happy Pear is bursting with the sweet flavours of roast veg, fresh tomato, and aromatic herbs.
Introduction
We love hearty, substantial salads of beans, grains and cooked veg. They are usually served cold and walk the line between a salad and a side dish, but they can also be a meal in and of themselves.
Ingredients
| 250g | cooked red rice (or cooked brown rice) |
| 1 × 400g tin | butter beans |
| 3 | ripe tomatoes chopped into bitesize pieces |
| A handful of | pickled red onions |
| 150g | roasted unpeeled pumpkin, cut into wedges |
| 50ml | olive oil |
| 2 tbsp | tamari or soy sauce |
| 2 tbsp | balsamic vinegar |
| 1 tbsp | maple syrup |
| 100g | rocket |
| 1 small bunch of | fresh flat-leaf parsley |
| 1 tbsp | dried oregano |
| 1 tsp | dried thyme |
| pinch of salt | |
| 50g | toasted pine nuts |
Method
1. When cooking your rice, make sure to add some salt as you cook it. That way the salt cooks into the grain as opposed to if you season it later, when it simply sits on the surface. If you're using brown rice instead and add 2 tablespoons of sweet paprika and 1 teaspoon of oil to it.
2. Drain and rinse the beans. Finely chop the fresh parsley, including the stalks.
4. To make the dressing whisk or blend the olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce or tamari, and maple syrup together.
5. Now think about presentation. In a large serving bowl, start with the cooked rice, then add the beans, tomatoes, and pickled red onions. Drizzle over the dressing, then add the cooked veg, rocket and herbs and gently mix through. Season with the salt, dried oregano and dried thyme, then taste and adjust if needed. Finally, scatter over the toasted pine nuts.
