I love nature's way of providing natural containers. Some foods just lend themselves to being served in their own skins and this dish is one of them!
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This yummy rice salad is seasoned with a sushi-style dressing - sweet, tangy vinegar. It's packed full of nutritious red kidney beans, red onion, broccoli, pineapple and pomegranate, then loaded back into pineapple shells for serving.
This recipe makes two extremely generous portions at 7pp/approx.420kcal each or four smaller portions at 4pp/approx.210kcal each.
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You Will Need:
(For 2 large or 4 small portions)
120g rice/Two 62.5g sachets Uncle Ben's rice
(I always use Uncle Ben's boil-in-the bag rice as it's already in individual portions).
100g tinned red kidney beans
1 red onion
100g broccoli
1 fresh pineapple
1/2 a pomegranate
2 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
(This is the brand I use, but if you can't get it, simply season some rice vinegar with a little artificial sweetener and pepper to your personal taste).
Black/white pepper
Mixed dried herbs (any)
Dried, chopped garlic
Fresh basil leaves
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Put the rice on to cook. While it boils for 10 minutes, prepare the pineapple and other vegetables.
Start by cutting off the top stalk and the base end.
If you are making two portions, cut the pineapple in half. If you are making 4 portions, cut each half again to make 4 chunky slices.
Run a really sharp knife around each slice to release the fruit. I find this is an easy way to cut pineapple anyway, with very little waste. It gives a lovely, clean edge.
You will only need half the fruit for this recipe, so pop half in the fridge.
If you are making the salad in advance, put the pineapple shells into a bag and store in the fridge until you need them.
Dice the remaining half of the fruit, discarding the woody central stalk.
Rinse the tinned red kidney beans thoroughly under running water to remove any foamy liquid.
Chop the broccoli and dice the onion.
For the last 3 minutes of the rice cooking, add the broccoli to the same water. This saves on pans! Once cooked, run plenty of cold water through the broccoli and rice to stop the cooking process. Drain well.
Measure the vinegar into your mixing bowl/s. I always use 2 bowls so that I can allocate the propointed ingredients accurately.
Measure the rice into your desired portions, or if using Uncle Ben's sachets, use one per bowl if you are making 2 portions of salad. Mix the cooked rice into the vinegar and coat thoroughly before adding the other ingredients. This will ensure that the flavour really seeps into the rice.
Weigh the kidney beans accurately into the salad. 50g per portion for two portions,or 25g per portion if making four.
Mix all the other ingredients into the salad and season to your personal taste. Include any pineapple juice that may have been released from the fruit.
Add some fresh or dried chilli or piri-piri seasoning if you like a salsa kick, or pepper for a pungent flavour. I love dried chopped garlic but add some fresh, crushed garlic if you prefer.
Add some fresh or dried chilli or piri-piri seasoning if you like a salsa kick, or pepper for a pungent flavour. I love dried chopped garlic but add some fresh, crushed garlic if you prefer.
If you like, add a squeeze of lemon or lime juice.
All that remains is to place a pineapple shell on each serving plate...
...and load up until they are cram-packed with the salad. Top with a sprig of fresh basil.
Enjoy the Summer flavours in this nutritious, filling salad. Soft, chewy rice and beans, crisp onion and broccoli and sweet, juicy pineapple and pomegranate.
This is fabulous served alfresco - especially to accompany a barbecue.
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2 comments:
What fun summery salad, and I love love how you presented it! It sounds so delicious! Take care, Terra
www.cafeterrablog.com
Thanks Terra xxx
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