My mother and I created this salad together for our family Christmas lunch one year - and each year since we have rolled it out for our friends and family. The combination of allspice and orange combines perfectly with the fresh herbs, caramelised onions and currants.
The thing I love most about it is that it can be mostly made the day before an event then easily assembled in the morning. Leaving the rice, nutmeg and herbs together overnight allows the flavours to wonderfully infuse.
The salad pairs perfectly with turkey, chicken or salmon.
- with love, Lucy x
Ingredients
- 1 cup each of wild and brown rice
- 4 x brown onions sliced
- 1 cup of toasted flaked almonds.
- 200g currants
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- ½ bunch of flat parsley
- ½ bunch of mint
- 1 x tablespoon of fresh oregano
- 1 x tablespoon of thyme leaves
- ¼ teaspoon of ground allspice
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt
- Pepper
Dressing
- Juice of 1 orange
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ½ cup of olive oil
- 1 x dessertspoon of raw honey
Method
- Add the rice blend to a large pot of boiling water. Cook uncovered for 20-25 mins or until tender. Drain and cool.
- To caramelise the onions: heat 30mls of olive oil into a large frying pan over low heat. Add onion, season with salt and pepper and cook for 20-30 mins. Stirring occasionally until caramelised.
- In a small pot boil currants in red wine vinegar for 5 minutes.
- Combine caramelised onions and currants and allow to cool.
- Combine rice, almonds, parsley, mint, oregano and thyme and ground allspice in a bowl and mix together. Cover and place in fridge to allow for the flavours to develop in the fridge (you can do this the night before serving).
- For the dressing simply combine all ingredients in a glass jar and stir well.
- When ready to serve take rice out of fridge add half of the caramelised onion currant mixture, stir through. Top the salad with the rest of the mixture and sprinkle with almond flakes.