Tomato & Basil Brown Rice Salad

To accompany the chilled cucumber soup, I prepared a refreshing brown rice salad.

Both of these dishes could be made ahead of time, saving you valuable relaxing evening time.

Cold dishes like these really do offer you more interesting lunches as well.

What you don’t see in the image is a side dish I also served,  pan-fried tofu stakes seasoned in curry salt and pepper mix.  A nice tip for crispy tofu steaks is after draining and marinade (30 min),  dust the steaks with a little corn flour around the edges, top and bottom right before cooking them in your hot pan for 2 minutes each side and seal around the edges.  Serve immediately with the dish/salad of your choice.

Here is the salad I made.  It’s super easy to make as you don’t need to cook anything except the rice and egg, of course 🙂 (The egg is optional)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup cooked brown rice (1 1/2 cups when uncooked)
• 1 cup of chopped fresh herbs (I use coriander and sweet basil and fresh mint)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 8 (cut into 1/8s) cherry tomatoes
• 1 cucumber diced
• 1 red bell pepper (chopped roughly)
• sprinkle of Konbu dashi powder or bullion powder to taste
• 1 small onion finely diced
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. When the rice has finished cooking, allow it to cool.
2. In the mean time combine all other ingredients in a large salad bowl
3. Mix in the cooled rice then chill until ready to serve.