AUNTY’S RICE SALAD
AUNTY’S BROWN RICE SALAD
A great salad – the trick to this salad is adding the soy sauce and onions to the hot brown rice and letting them steam and soak and cool together. My sister first introduced this to me at New Years in New Zealand. She is not a cook. In fact she openly admits she hates cooking so you can be assured that this is simple and straightforward to make.
First: 1 cup of brown rice and two cups of water into your rice cooker. (Or pot if you prefer).
When the rice is cooked (and the machine is turned off) stir in just under 1/4 cup of good quality soy sauce and a couple of good handfuls of chopped onions. Put the lid back on and let the hot rice steam the onions. My sister and I use all or any kinds of onions, white or red and spring or chives. (I also added finely chopped celery and broccoli stalk at this stage).
Let it sit and absorb. I took the lid off after about 30 minutes. Allow to cool.
When you are ready to serve toss in two big cups of seeds and nuts. I used sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts and raisins.
Pour over the lemon and honey dressing: olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic and honey. Start with 1/4 cup of olive oil and go from there. (I added a few tablespoons of rice wine vinegar for that extra layer of zing plus I used grape-seed oil which is a little lighter).
And there you have it. The perfect rice salad. And as you can see you can change it up or down. It is very forgiving. The most important step is putting the soy sauce and onions in while the rice is still hot.
I did find a recipe here for those of you who like more precise recipes. I don’t know if that was my sister’s reference, she is travelling and I cannot ask her, but it is so TASTY that I wanted to tell you all about it.
Today I call a man who has a trailer for sale. The old black mariah needs four new wheels (yes wheels not just tires) a new floor (the floor is rotting) and the rust in the roof is becoming big holes (a convertible stock trailer is not the best of ideas in the winter). We bought this old one at the beginning of my farming career (about 10 years ago) for $800. But I think it has done its dash. The one I am looking at will be around $1500 which is a bit more than my budget can reach so I hope to do a deal.
When I finally secure a new second hand trailer the Black Mariah will be taken out into the back field and repurposed as a shelter for the pigs. Filled with straw it will be a great summer house. I have huge heavy rubber mats to drape over the holes in the roof.
I went and looked at piglets from a local Herford breeder. But his pig house is heated to 68F – hotter than my house – and the shock of going into an unheated barn would be too much. I would need at least six for them to keep each other warm. And he does not have enough. He grows the animals for the show people. I have bought animals from him before – though not field raised, he grows their GMO – free feed himself. So, I can go back in a month or six weeks or so and get the animals when they are a bit bigger and the weather is a bit warmer. If they sell they sell. He has more sows farrowing in the meantime. But I don’t think they will manage here in the cold barn, with temperatures veering up and down so fast.
As I write it is 28F and blowing. This is pretty much the high for today so we will milk early. It will drop to around 5F by tomorrow morning.
My silage is almost gone. The biggest bonus is how much the pigs love it.
Egg production took a huge jump – 25 eggs yesterday. I think they are not missing those roosters! And are enjoying a little more sun and the odd warm patch in the day.
The pigs will be happy when I boil these up for their breakfast.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
WEATHER: Cold and wintry windy. Well, it IS winter.
45 Comments on “AUNTY’S RICE SALAD”
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I can’t wait to try your salad, though I will probably use lemon juice instead of vinegar since I have that in the house. 🙂
That’s great. The vinegar is totally optional. Lemons are the perfect acid for this dressing.
I made this last night for dinner, and it was a hit. I had to alter it a little bit to fit what we had in house since I didn’t want to wait for a trip to the grocery store. I made a double batch so we would have leftovers. I used about half and half lemons and limes, added peas, used toasted sunflower seeds and almonds, LOTS of garlic and a little bit of hot pepper flakes, but no vinegar or honey. I added some chopped hard boiled eggs for extra protein because I served it as our main dish instead of a side. I also served it warm because my husband is not a huge fan of cold main dishes. It was fabulous!!!! My husband walked in the house from work and the first words out of his mouth were, “Something smells good!” Thank you for a great recipe! I will be making this again!
That’s a great recipe. I can see all sorts of ways to dress it up; my immediate thought was to give it a little chilli and a dusting of cumin, and use some pomegranate molasses instead of some of the honey and all of the vinegar. And I’d probably fry the onions first…
Um – I think this would be called the Aunty Kate Rice Salad then. A very different set of tastes in there. Lovely. c
True, but Aunty inspired it!
Ah, you have muddy egg syndrome too. Fortunately, we don’t care if they aren’t grocer clean and neither do my customers. The salad sounds yummy, but I’m the only one who would eat it. Maybe I’ll take it to a potluck at a retreat in late Feb. Good luck with the trailer and piglets.
Just that time of year isn’t it ! Muddy egg syndrome indeed!!
The salad sounds very yummy. I love soy sauce and rice vinegar together….. My grandmother did a recipe with hamburger, scrambled eggs, rice, onion and soy sauce. Simple recipe but it was flavorful and filling.
That sounds interesting. The women who came through the Depresssion sure knew how to stretch a pound of hamburger into a meal for the multitudes. c
I always like recipes I can make too much of and eat off of for days on end. This sounds like a winner. 🙂
YES! Me too. This and my colourful coleslaw are like that! c
What a yummy sounding salad. I must try this. Will use Bragg’s Liquid Aminos as we are gluten-free at our house, sadly. My husband loves all things onion. Chives appealed to me as an alternative to onion. It sounds a bit more subtle in flavor.
I hope you get the trailer. I like the idea of yours turned into a pig shelter.
The pigs will be grateful! c
That recipe sounds so delicious I cant wait to try it.
Even John ate extra of it – though I am not sure he was that excited by cold rice! c
Lovely salad, lots of things benefit from bring dressed while still warm…yum!
YES! I do a warm potato salad too – it is always a winner!
lemons in the salad for me also-since our neighbor down the road has an enormous Meyer Lemon tree in her greenhouse
Lovely recipe!
OH I am so jealous! Lemons down the road. I would love to be able to say that. c
Sounds like a terrific rice salad — thank you. Do you have any thoughts about using quinoa instead of rice? I will try it with rice first to get the hang of it.
Good luck with making a good deal for your new trailer. The old one certainly sounds as though it has done good duty and will continue to earn its keep. Those piggies you were looking at sound like high class pampered squealers, and not your every day Illinois plonkers — heh heh.
Following three nights with totally clear and brilliant skies we had a heavy cloud cover last night and so missed the moon’s show; it was disappointing. Did you see it? Hope you have a great day. — Mame. 🙃
No we saw nothing – the clouds chased it all the way down. It seems to me we have more cloudy days than sunny ones – c
Hi mame, I make this kind of salad with quinoa, and also amaranth. You just need to go easy on the oil, or use grapeseed as Celi suggested, something a bit lighter, since the grains are small. I add a bit of chopped red capsicum(pepper) for crunch and colour as well.
Ahh thank you, Netty. Have never used grape seed oil but will search it out and give it a try
My cousin gave me recipe similar to this. Funny, I haven’t made it in years BUT I’m gonna print out the recipe from the link you gave… along with all your ‘tips’!! (Love that you’re getting so many eggs!!) ; o )
Oh,yummm
Yes, we had great views of the moon last night. I am curious why you boil the eggs for the pigs. My previous dog who was on a total raw meat and veg diet used to eat raw organic eggs, shell and all? Laura
Oh yes – they can (and do) eat them raw as well – but when they eat them boiled they waste less. And i can just feed each pig – I pop the egg straight into their mouths! c
That salad looks like exactly what I’ll need. I’ll whip it up when back in Italy! xx
After I travel a lot I feel parched for vegetables and fresh food – you will like it i think.. c
I was expecting Auntie Del’s breakfast …for a minute.
Good luck with the trailer. I can’t help thinking that your natural temperature pigs are probably the most healthy. Warm pigs will be in and out of the doctors like central heated school children or commuters on the tube.
Yes I agree – once they have get their legs under them and some weight on them they are fine. With the piglets I was more worried about the shock of coming from such a hothouse to my cold, cold barn – like you say – we would have been at the doctors! We are going down to 5F/-15C tonight too so I am glad I left them where they are. c
I just watched TonTon on Instagram showing the pigs home. I thought he was guarding the house so they wouldn’t go up the stairs!
It looks a bot like that doesn’t it. I love that vid. c
I literally live on brown rice yet quite a few parts of your recipe are new . . . have oft added one of the soy sauces but never to hot rice! Methinks tamari would suit this well? Shall try soonest . . . . I love using the small round salad onions together with their green tops or shallot bulbs for their oomph of flavour without ‘taking over’ . . . thank you!
oh shallots – yes – I still have some of those too – I love onions of all kinds – hope you get to try it – it is my favorite way of eating brown rice to date..
Oh YUM. This is my kind of salad. And rice. I love the simplicity and the soy, plus all of those seeds. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Lynda – yes I agree – it has those good strong simple tones in it, lemon and honey and soy. No arguments. c
Going to have to try that Celi, it looks and sounds delicious 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
What a marvellous recipe ! It looks scrumptious !
Our egg production is up too but not the big leap yours took!! WOOT!! Just in time for company to arrive too!
Good timing. I am back at Tafe (classes) 2 days each week and need portable lunches. Brown rice salad is perfect!
That is a new staple in my recipe library. It has earned printout under a magnet on the fridge door status on its first batch.
Manchild loves it’s garlicky lemonyness.
QUESTION:
Soy sauce. I used Kikkoman, but I felt it was a tad strong. Would you consider diluting it? Or using golden soy? What brand do you use, please?
Lucky pigs Celi! Do you fee your eggs back to your chooks?
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