Green Rice Salad
This is one of my favourite dishes that my mom makes. So fresh and green but hearty at the same time. It can be a little more time consuming than some of the other recipes, but is definitely worth it. Although best enjoyed fresh, you can make it in advance and pack it to go for the day, or for the day after.
You'll Need
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~4.5 cups vegetable broth
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~2 cups brown rice
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1 head of parsley
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~ handful of fresh mint
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2 garlic cloves
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2 tomatoes
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1/2 of a cucumber
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~1/4 of a red onion
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1 avocado
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juice of 2 lemons
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1/6 cup extra virgin olive oil
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salt & pepper
Begin by cooking the rice. You can use wild rice instead, which is my favourite. it takes longer to cook and is still not completely soft even when it is entirely cooked. So it has a wonderful texture, and an earthy flavour. You can cook the rice in water as it normally is, or in a combination of broth & water. Vegetable broth simply infuses the rice with savoury flavours.
Heat the broth on high with the rice inside & lower to medium once it begins to boil, covering the pot with a lid. As the rice cooks, stir occasionally to ensure it doesn't burn if it sticks to the bottom.
It should take about an hour or so to cook.
In the meantime, wash the parsley & mint and remove the stems. This is the part that takes some time. I used to break off each individual leaf from the stem haha but that is not necessary since everything will be going in the blender anyway. As long as majority of the stem is removed you are good to go. If you don't like mint you can omit it, or add in some other fresh herbs like basil!
Once the herbs are good to go, put about half of them in the blender with the lemon juice. Make sure there are no seeds because lemon seeds are terribly bitter and blending them up will give the salad an awful flavour. It might take a little bit for everything to blend but once you have a thick mixture going and no more leaves are visible, add in the garlic, rest of the herbs & 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil. Keep checking on the rice
Now its time to chop all the fillings. I like to cut the cucumber so that each slice is sliced again into 4. Chop the onion finely so that it doesn't stand out too much when everything is mixed together.
Once the rice is done transfer it to a bowl & let it cool. It doesn't have to be completely cold before you add in everything but if its too hot it will make all the fresh ingredients soggy.
Combine the fresh ingredients, rice & green paste once the rice has cooled & mix well. Add in salt & pepper to taste.
This can be eaten the next day but is best enjoyed fresh
