Unicorn Rice Salad is the perfect dish for entertaining! It’s such a fun dish and so easy to prepare! I’m not one for strict recipes so this one is super flexible and you can adjust the vegetables to whatever is in season or available.
Unicorn Rice
- 3-4 Red Cabbage leaves (Use the outside leaves you would normally discard. They are richer in colour and you can get some use before they hit the compost).
- 1 1/4 Cups White Jasmine Rice
- Pinch of Salt
- 2 1/2 Cups water
- To make the Purple Rice roughly chop the red cabbage leaves into quarters. Place in a saucepan with 2 1/2 cups of water and a pinch of salt.
- Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Stir and bruise the cabbage a few times to release the colour.
- Strain into a bowl and discard the cabbage leaves to the compost.
- Measure the liquid back into the saucepan in relation to how much is needed for the rice. You may need to top up with a little water if your purple liquid has evaporated. I used the absorption method so that the rice absorbed all the liquid and colour (If you have a rice cooker use that).
- To cook the rice I first rinsed the 1 1/4 cups of rice with water to remove some starch and then added to the purple liquid. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer with a lid on for about 5 minutes stirring regularly. Reduce heat right down to the lowest setting and let the rice absorb all the liquid. You may have to add a little more water if needed.
- Once the unicorn rice is cooked quickly rinse under water to remove extra starch. The colour should stay but try to rinse minimally.
Salad
- 2 cups of finely sliced red cabbage
- 2 orange carrots peeled and grated
- 1/2 Beetroot peeled and grated
- 1/2 Cup of parsley roughly chopped
- 1-2 Cups of chopped garden greens I used colourful Rainbow Chard.
- 1/2 pomegranate
- 1 Watermelon Radish (optional)
- 5 Snow Peas finely sliced
- 2 Purple Carrots peeled and thinly sliced on Mandoline
- Edible Flowers to serve (Nasturtium, Pansey, Marigold, Calendula)
- 1/2 Lemon cut into 2 wedges
- 1 Packet of Haloumi, fried and cut into cubes (any protein could be added)
- Your favourite Salad Dressing ( Mine is Japanese Sesame Dressing)
The Salad is totally flexible and just use whatever colourful vegetables you have growing in the garden or available to you. The above is just what I used and had in my garden at the time.
- Add the sliced Red Cabbage, grated Beetroot and Orange Carrots into a bowl and mix well.
- Lay your purple rice out on a platter and make a well in the centre (push more rice to the edges so you can see it when the salad is on top).
- Sprinkle the chopped parsley on the rice.
- Place your Red Cabbage mix along the centre of the rice.
- Top with the rest of your veggies, Haloumi, Pomegranate, and edible flowers.
Serving
To serve up your salad add your dressing. In front of your guests squeeze quartered lemon wedges over the salad and rice. This will start to turn the rice hot pink!
Magic π
If you make my Unicorn Rice Salad be sure to tag me on Instagram @sustainable_holly so I can see your beautiful creations! Get Creative!
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