Go on a trip to Asia with this Asian style rice, kale and carrot salad. Based on a dressing made of soy sauce, sesame oil and vinegar, this bright salad is full of light zesty flavors that work together and make a great side dish or a main dish.
I know many of you don’t think of rice as a salad ingredient, but if you think about cold pasta salads you’ll see the similarities. This salad represents the combination of simplicity and effectiveness.
In this recipe we go through couple of cooking techniques, the most important being the quick blanching of the kale and then shocking it in an ice cold bath. That way the kale remains green and crispy. You can use this method on any kind of collard greens.
This salad is perfect for those days when you want to step back and make things easier for your digestions. Because life can be found in the balance between kale and burgers. 😀
There’s always room for improvement, so you can upgrade it with a squeeze of lime juice, some chopped spring onions or grating a garlic. It would make me so happy if you would use this recipe as a starting point for your own creation and have fun. I know you’re not supposed to play with food but what is cooking if not a game? 🙂 Recipe follows.
Basmati rice, carrot and kale salad
Ingredients
RICE
- 50 g wholegrain basmati rice
- 1 l water
- 1/2 tbsp (7.5 g) salt
- 4 cloves
- (5 g) piece of ginger
VEG
- 150 g washed deveined kale leaves
- 1 l water
- 1/2 tbsp (7.5 g) salt
- 150 g cleaned, peeled carrot
- 172 tsp (2.5 ml) white vine vinegar
DRESSING
- 1,5 tbsp (22 ml) light soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp (7.5 ml) sesame oil
- 1/2 tbsp (7.5 ml) white vine vinegar
- 1 tsp hot sauce optional
Instructions
RICE
- Rinse the rice.
- Pour the water, add the salt, cloves and ginger and heat until boiling. Add the rice and cook for 50 g.
- Drain and rinse.
VEG
- Heat the water with salt. When it reaches the boiling point add the kale, reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Grate the carrot and mix with white vine vinegar.
- Drain the kale and transfer into ice cold bath to shock it for a couple of minutes. It will keep the beautiful green color ad remain slightly crunchy.
- Drain it and squeeze the excess the excess water. Place couple of leaves on top of each other, roll like a cigar and slice into thin ribbons. Repeat with all of it.
- Mix with the rice and carrot.
- Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl and pour over the salad. Mix thoroughly. Add some pepper if you'd like.
- Serve as is or along side some chicken pieces.
If you’d serve it as a side dish, try some green curry marinated chicken strips. Or chicken strips rubbed with salt and a lot of garlic. Personally, I eat it as a main dish. I’m not a picky girl.
Enjoy,
T 🙂
