Rainbow Rice

Love colour? Love this rainbow salad! This is a great recipe for winter - filling, nutritious + delicious!

Time: 35 minutes

Serves: 4 

What you need:

1 1/2 cups brown rice 

1x tin legumes (I used 4 bean mix, but lentils, aduki beans, chickpeas, butter beans + kidney beans would also work well)

2x handfuls rocket (baby spinach would work well, also)

2x carrots, julienned

1x onion, roughly chopped

6-8x cloves garlic, peeled

2x spring onions, thinly sliced

1/8th red cabbage, shredded

1/2 bunch parsley or coriander, chopped

1x teaspoon smoked paprika

1x teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2x tablespoons sesame seeds (white or black, or a combo of both) 

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

Toasted sesame oil (a few drops) 

Salt + pepper, to taste

Olive oil

What to do: 

1/ To prepare rice: bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add 1 cup of rice to the saucepan, reduce heat + simmer covered for 20-25 minutes. Drain off excess water, then let stand, covered for 5 minutes.*

2/ Meanwhile, heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 

3/ Put the carrot sticks, onion, garlic, smoked paprika, oregano, cayenne + salt onto a large baking tray. Add a good glug of olive oil + mix everything together with your hands. Pop in the oven + roast until veggies are soft (but not mushy.)

4/ Pop the cooked veggies to a large mixing bowl. Mix in the cabbage, spring onion + cabbage. Add the cooked rice, canned legumes, sesame seeds, vinegar, salt + pepper + sesame oil. Toss to combine.

5/ Eat straight away...or divide into lunchboxes + enjoy over a few days.

*You can soak brown rice for a few hours before cooking. This helps to remove some of the naturally-occurring phytic acid in the grain, which improves digestibility + speeds up the cooking time.