The Taste Traveller

brown rice, fresh herb and vegetable salad

I was looking for a new rice salad idea. So, armed with a bag of long-grain brown rice and with a day before I planned to make the salad I looked around online for some inspiration. 

I’ve taken a recipe I came across on the Whole Foods website and added and tweaked a few things to make it my own. I made some changes the night I served it and a few more the second time I served it.  

With our excalating temperatures here in Vancouver, a salad is always welcome. You could cook the rice well ahead of time and even get the vegetables chopped – as well as put the dressing together – leaving the fresh herbs and additional vegetables until later and the final assembly of all of the ingredients closer to serving. I did most of the preparation several hours before I served it.  

The first time I served this I accompanied it with chicken thighs cooked in a pan with a Moroccan spice mix. The second time I served this alongside pita bread, falafel, hummous and a mint/yoghurt 'sauce'. 

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups (600 ml) long-grain brown rice, cooked 
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) carrots, peeled and finely chopped 
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) seedless cucumber, chopped (or just chopped cucumber with the seeds)
• 1/2 to 1 cup (125 ml to 250 ml) radishes, sliced (for a milder flavour peel them)
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) celery, chopped 
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) red onion or green onions/scallions, chopped (I used spring/green onions/scallions)
• 1 cup (250 ml) fresh or frozen and thawed peas 
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) frozen or freshly cooked corn
• 1/2 cup (60 ml) basil, chopped 
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) mint, chopped 
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup (30 ml to 60 ml) of another fresh herb like savoury or a different basil or parsley (I added a mixture of savoury and regular parsley). Optional. 
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) honey 
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) extra virgin olive oil 
• 4 tablespoons (60 ml) lemon juice (about 1/3 to 1/2 a lemon)
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) Dijon mustard 
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) red pepper flakes 
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) of fresh ground black pepper

Other good additions:

• 1/2 cup (125 ml) of chick peas, white kidney beans or black beans
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) or more of chopped feta cheese

Method:

Put all ingredients into a large bowl and toss gently to combine. Serve immediately or chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Cooking Brown Rice

You'll see some methods calling for double the water to rice - I find this results in a more sticky, less fluffy rice. Still, I can't tell you how many times I've done this and then wondered why I did. For this recipe I did two batches of rice - one with double the water, one with just over 1 1/2 ratio of water to rice. I would reduce this to 1 1/2 next time - it was still a bit moist for my liking. I also find that brown basmati is easier to cook and get a great result with for some reason. 

You could use white rice here if you prefer, but brown rice is much more nutritious for you than white rice. It's not as processed so retains more of the nutrients and fibre. 

This amount of rice, uncooked, resulted in about the right amount for this recipe - and definitely more than for just one meal. 

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown rice 
• 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups water 

Method:

Rinse rice well. Put rice and water into a small pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover pot and simmer until liquid is completely absorbed. This will take about 35 to 40 minutes. Try not to lift the lid to check how it's doing, you'll let out steam that is part of the cooking process. Once cooked, set aside for at least ten minutes, with the lid on. Remove lid and fluff the rice with one or two forks. Set aside and let cool, or cover and place in the fridge for later use.  

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quinoa with cherry tomatoes, cucumber and italian flat leaf parsley

Quinoa - that amazing grain I was telling you about last week - well, here it is again! This is a lighter, not-like-risotto version and quick and easy to throw together. The reality is that a lot of the time I serve quinoa plain with just a bit of salt and pepper - and it's great just like that. But, I wanted to play around a bit more here. Feel free to mix up the ingredients - add any kind of tomato, fresh chopped basil, maybe some chopped onion. I used pimento-stuffed green olives - but any olive would do nicely here. Kalamata, marinated in chili and spices - yum! Squeeze some lemon over everything, drizzle some oil on top, add salt and pepper - and you're all set. 

The amounts I have specified below are approximate - add more or less as you please. It's very much a mix and match dish and I was using quinoa I already had cooked and making this for my lunch - so I just used an appropriate amount to fill up the bowl I was using. 

 Ingredients:

• 1 cup (250 ml) quinoa, uncooked
• 2 cups (500 ml) water
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil, approximately
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 6 to 8 cherry tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup (250 ml) cucumber, chopped
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) olives, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Put quinoa into saucepan or rice cooker and add water to cover. Soak for 5 to 10 minutes. You may omit this step if short on time. 

Drain and rinse the quinoa using a strainer/colander, stirring with your fingers as you run the water over the quinoa.

Add the water and quinoa to the rice cooker or saucepan on the stovetop to cook. If using the saucepan, cover, bring the water to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer until the water is absorbed (about 15 minutes).

While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the other ingredients - chop the tomatoes, cucumber, Italian flat-leaf parsley, and olives.

When the quinoa is cooked, remove the saucepan from the heat on the stovetop, or transfer the quinoa from the rice cooker to a bowl, fluff with a fork (if it's a bit sticky you may need to break it up a bit) and let cool.

When cooled, add the olives, tomatoes, cucumber, and Italian flat-leaf parsley.

Add olive oil, squeeze the lemon juice on top (or squeeze into a bowl first and remove seeds).

Add one or two grinds of pepper and salt. Mix thoroughly. Taste and add more oil, lemon or seasoning to suit your taste. 

Serve. 

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quinoa with sundried tomatoes, chickpeas and lemon

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) is a grain that I just recently have gotten into using. It's so versatile! It's similar to couscous or rice in the way you cook it - but different than both in texture and flavour. It's got a sort of nutty flavour and really expands from it's original size when cooked. I endlessly forget this and cook more than needed! It's also really good for you, being a whole grain - healthier than couscous actually (which is made from wheat and a sort of pasta really). Quinoa comes from the seed of a weed called goosefoot. Because it actually has leaves and is not a grass, it's not technically a grain (although it's close so it's usually referred to as one). It is actually in the same family as spinach and beets! It's referred to as an ancient grain, having been around for something like 6,000 years - so it's pretty amazing that it's available to us today. 

In it's raw form it is coated with bitter-tasting saponin (keeps the birds away from the crops apparently). Although this is most likely removed in processing, it doesn't hurt to soak the quinoa for 5 or 10 minutes, and definitely give it a good rinse as you would with rice. When it's cooked it will not only have expanded, but look translucent and have sort of burst - with what is called it's germ ring popping out. It looks like a little spiral. 

If you haven't tried quinoa yet, and I haven't sold you on the idea yet - I can also tell you it is gluten-free, easy to digest, high in fibre and very high in protein. It's actually considered a complete protein as it contains all 8 essential amino acids, which are building blocks for our bodies - and cannot be produced by our bodies so must come from our diet. Needless to say it's great for all of us to include in our diet - but in particular it's beneficial to vegetarians and vegans - and useful for those eating gluten-free. 

I've got one salad here, and another similar one I'll tell you about next week. Really you can do almost anything with this that you would with couscous, rice or pasta. For this and the next salad I added a bit more water than I sometimes do and got a cooked result that was a bit moist, which with the combination below - was almost rissoto-like. Less water results in a fluffier version. I added slightly more than double the water to the amount of quinoa this time. You can do this is a saucepan, on the stovetop, or in a rice cooker, as I have done here. I recommend twice the water to quinoa  - but try it with a bit more or less to see the different results. Adding broth in place of water is a great flavour-booster. 

(This is the first version of this salad that I made - without the cucumber and Italian flat-leaf parsley) 

Kid's Stuff: My one year old ate this right up - sundried tomatoes, pine nuts and all! Great for their lunch and keeps well for several days. I suspect the slightly more moist version appealed to her more (and the cheese and sundried tomatoes are two things she likes too).

The amounts I have listed below are rough - play around with them to suit your taste. I think the fresh-squeezed lemon is the ultimate final touch here - add more or less as you like. I also encourage you to have the parmesan and grater at the table and add more - like you would with rissoto - mmm mmm, so good. Of course omit this if it doesn't suit your dietary needs. 

Well, I'll let you get on with reading and hopefully trying out the recipe! Check back next week for my second idea for an easy, fun quinoa dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (250 ml) quinoa, uncooked
• 2 cups (500 ml) water
• juice of half a lemon
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil, approximately
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) pinenuts, toasted
• 4 to 6 sundried tomatoes in oil, chopped
• 1 cup (250 ml) cucumber, chopped
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 cup (250 ml) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup (60 to 125 ml) fresh parmesan or romano cheese, finely grated (add more at the table)
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Put quinoa into saucepan or rice cooker and add water to cover. Soak for 5 to 10 minutes. You may omit this step if short on time. 

Drain and rinse the quinoa using a strainer/colander, stirring with your fingers as you run the water over the quinoa.

Add the water and quinoa to the rice cooker or saucepan on the stovetop to cook. If using the saucepan, cover, bring the water to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer until the water is absorbed (about 15 minutes).

While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the other ingredients - toast the pinenuts, chop the sundried tomatoes, cucumber and Italian flat-leaf parsley, and rinse and drain the chickpeas.

When the quinoa is cooked, remove the saucepan from the heat on the stovetop, or transfer the quinoa from the rice cooker to a bowl, fluff with a fork (if it's a bit sticky you may need to break it up a bit) and let cool.

When cooled, add the pinenuts, sundried tomatoes, cucumber, Italian flat-leaf parsley and chickpeas.

Squeeze half a lemon into a measuring cup or bowl and remove any seeds. Add to the mixture and stir thoroughly. 

Add olive oil, cheese (if using) and one or two grinds of pepper and salt. Mix thoroughly. Taste and add more lemon, oil or seasoning to suit your taste. 

Serve. 

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