blissful eats with tina jeffers: Mango and Coconut Rice Salad

My new favorite salad comes from the cookbook Plenty by Ottolenghi.  If you aren’t familiar with this book, I highly recommend checking it out.  It’s chock full of original unique vegetarian recipes that are easy to reproduce at home.  The photography is spectacular and I love the way the book is laid out in chapters by main ingredient.

With the weather getting warmer I turn to simple dishes that I can put together ahead of time and have in the fridge to grab for a quick meal.  This is super simple but tastes like you spent a lot of time putting it together.  It would make the perfect picnic fare, cool, sweet and intensely aromatic thanks to the addition of mango, mint and basil.  Have a great week, make this salad and take it outside to enjoy the sunshine!

 

Mango and Coconut Rice Salad

Adapted from Plenty

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups camargue red rice

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons mint leaves thinly sliced

½ cup loosely packed basil leaves, roughly chopped

1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped

grated zest and juice of one lime

1 large mango, cut roughly into 1-inch dice

½ cup roasted salted cashews, roughly chopped

2/3 cup flaked coconut

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Cook the red rice in plenty of boiling water for 20 minutes, or until it is cooked through.  Drain and spread on a tray to cool down.

Once cool, add the rice and all the remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir just to mix; do not stir too much or the mango pieces will disintegrate.  Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.