Tropical Rice Salad

Laurena@LifeDietHealth

9 years ago

Tropical Rice Salad

Hello everyone! 🙂 Well, what a busy weekend I had! If you read my last post ‘zingy marbled cheesecake’ then you’ll know that I was co-hosting the weekly Fiesta Friday blog party! 🙂 Usually if I am looking at recipes they are foods which mostly meet my health needs i.e. dairy free, gluten free and refined sugar free but as co-host I had to check out at least half of the posts published. There were 108 posts! Even just checking out half (Kaila from GF Life 24/7 was my co-host) was a lot of reading and commenting!

Even though I was busy – I still had to eat! Delicious vegetable chili kebabs!

What did I discover? A whole world of food from Mexican to Indian, American to Japanese, starters to desserts and everything in-between including some lovely gardens and perfume making tips! 🙂 Choosing my favourites for consideration as next weeks features was very difficult (especially as the Fiesta Friday rules have to be followed) as some of the posts had amazing photography (any tips would be appreciated); some were fantastic culinary adventures which would tantalise your tastebuds; some write ups drew you in and captured you; whilst others taught you something new or even showed you around! So much excitement in one weekend! 🙂

Here’s just a little snippet of the variety of recipes from the party… something for everyone!

Pink rhubarb ice-cream (post 15); Dates iced coffee (post 60); Beetroot korma (post 13); Sandcastle cakes (post 2); Chicken & chickpeas (post 95); Tropical rice (post 16); Danish Oat Truffles (post 28); Savoury bread pudding (post 29) Cinnamon topped Syrup cake (post 49) and Spicy Shrimps (post 93).

Of course, some of these I wouldn’t personally eat BUT that’s the beauty of being a recipe creator and developer 🙂 I can switch, swap and change (they’re not all the same thing 😛 ) the ingredients to make them fit the Life Diet Health concept 🙂

Delicious, refreshing, colourful, flavoursome tropical rice!

I was so excited by some of the posts that my shopping list has grown dramatically! I almost even nearly bought myself a spice grinder (I have a pestle & mortar)! Some of the recipes I already tried out over the weekend (I love having a well stocked pantry) and today I wanted to share my ‘quick’ version of tropical rice 🙂 Mine isn’t as picture perfect as Kriti’s as for one I didn’t have the pineapple shells to load it all in to, but I’ve no doubt this is still a very tasty version! 🙂 Before you say ‘yuck, pineapple in a salad’ or ‘fruits are sweet and veg are savoury – they don’t mix’ (that’s what I’ve always said!) please give this a thought! This is so quick and easy to throw together, tastes like you’ve spent a load of time on it and is great as a side for a barbecue! Plus, I was surprised to find that the pineapple actually tasted really good and complemented the other foods perfectly! 😀

Tropical Rice Salad (vegan & Free-From)

Servings: as you like
Time: 5-10 mins
Difficulty: easy
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Gather

Cooked chilled rice (I used brown basmati)
Frozen peas (allow to defrost)
Frozen sweetcorn (allow to defrost)
Fresh red pepper chopped
Fresh (or tinned) pineapple chopped with any juices
Flaked almonds
Cashew nuts
Sesame seeds
Raisins
Salt (I use pink Himalayan)
Ground black pepper
* optional favourite herb/spice – paprika / cinnamon / chili flakes / basil

Prepare

Put the rice in a bowl, add equal amounts of peas, sweetcorn and red pepper. Mix through until the colours are evenly distributed!
Top with the pineapple, then pour over the juice.
Scatter almonds, cashews, sesame and raisins over the top.
Dust with salt, pepper *and a herb/spice if using.
Enjoy!

Serve & Store

You will notice I haven’t added any measurements for this – keep it simple and use what you have!
Have as a side to a barbecue, add to a buffet, or eat as a main meal.
Keep chilled until serving.
Do not keep cooked rice for more than three days.
Mix all the flavours together before serving or serve as it is.
If making in advance, add the nuts just before serving so that they don’t turn soft.
Dress it up and serve in pineapple shells!