Summer Rice Salad with Tahini dressing

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No one ever makes the right amount of rice, ever. It’s always too much or too little. This salad is perfect for the next day left over rice if you’ve been a little heavy handed the night before. It makes a great salad to have as a fresh lunch or a perfect side on a hot summer evening.

You can use any leftover rice you have, or make it fresh. I like to use brown rice, it’s full of fiber, protein and as an added benefit is low GI.

This dish is super easy and can be whipped up in about 15 minutes. It really is a low effort meal that you can serve in a pinch that is also good for your health!

This is how it’s done:

Ingredients:

2 cups                   cooked rice (I used Spekko brown rice)

½ tsp                     ground cumin

1                              lemon, zested and juiced

2                             cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped

½ cup                    fresh parsley, roughly chopped

½ cup                    chopped dates, soaked in ½ cup hot water

1                             carrot, grated

3                              spring onions, chopped

½                             red pepper, chopped

½                             pineapple, trimmed and chopped into 1-2cm pieces

½ cup                    almonds, roughly chopped

2 cups                   rinsed baby spinach

Salt and pepper to taste

Dressing:

¼ cup                    tahini

2 tbs                      lemon juice

½ tsp                     ground cumin

½ cup                    warm water from soaked dates

1 TBS                     maple syrup

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• In a small bowl, roughly mix together the cumin, garlic, soaked dates, lemon zest and juice. Set aside.
• In a large salad bowl, toss together the rice, parsley, spinach, peppers, carrot, spring onion, almonds and pineapple.
• Pour the garlic mix over the salad and mix through.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.

For the dressing:

• In a small bowl or jug, use a stick blender to combine all the ingredients for the dressing together.
• Adjust the date water as needed for desired consistency.

Serve the salad with tahini dressing on the side. Garnish with fresh parsley.

*I am a huge fan of garlic so I use it i almost everything. If you are making this for a weeknight meal then you can easily omit the garlic.

*If you don’t have tahini (I know it can sometimes be a pain to find), then use some blended cashews. Remember to soak your cashews in hot water for 20-30 minutes before blending though) It won’t have the same flavour but it will be a creamier and sweeter version.

*This will keep for about 2 days. Keep the dressing separate though.

Thanks for reading! Remember, if you try this recipe out, drop me a message and let me know how it turned out!

xx

N