This tasty salad is made using brown rice for fibre, that’s been cooked in chicken stock, for extra flavour. Quick and easy to make, you don’t need to put the oven on when its baking hot and you just want some dinner.

Filling from the brown rice and those lovely vegetables, it’s less than 400 calories too! Inexpensive as well to help those purses and wallets.

 

 

What do I need to make chicken and rice salad

• For 4 portions
• brown rice – I use brown Basmati rice as I prefer the texture and flavour. Feel free to use white rice of course if you prefer that
• red peppers – I use a red pepper from a jar. They are very convenient, don’t have any nasties in them and work out pretty good cost wise.
• green peas – the small and sweet petit pois are best here. The cheaper value peas are a bit big and mealy for this salad. I don’t bother to cook them , they don’t really need it. Just pop them in the bowl straight from the freezer.
• raisins – for a pop of sweetness.
• salted peanuts – I prefer the salted nuts, for that salty hit
• gerkins – a litte bit Marmite this one! I love a gherkins, but of you don’t just leave them out
• mushrooms – either raw or frozen
• chicken stock – to cook the rice in. If you don’t have any gorgeous home made stock, use a stock cube, or just water

 

How do I make brown rice and chicken salad

• First of all, cook the brown rice. I like to use the absorption method when cooking rice with flavourings. You will need twice as much stock, by weight, as rice. Cover the rice with stock in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer gently for 20-25 minutes. keep an eye on it for the last 5 or 10 minutes as you may need to add a spoonful or 2 more of stock. Switch the heat off and leave the pan on the hob for a further 10 minutes to soak up any remaining stock and finish cooking
• While all that is happening, prepare everything else
  • Chop the chicken up small. This is a series using already cooked chicken. If you don’t have any, use a little more of chicken that’s still raw. Chop it up small and fry off in a pan until cooked through. Tip into a mixing bowl
  • I use roasted red peppers from a jar which just need to be chopped and added to the bowl. You could use raw peppers, chopped small. Or chop one up small and cook it through in a frying pan with a little oil
  • Add a handful of raisins
  • Add a handful of salted peanuts
  • Chop a couple of frozen mushrooms that have been thawed, or a couple of fresh ones and add to the bowl
  • Add the frozen green peas, straight from the freezer, there is no need to cook them through
  • Chop up a couple of gherkins, or several of the tiddly ones and add to the bowl
• Once the brown rice is cooked through, let it cool a little and add to the bowl with everything else
• Check the seasoning, correct if necessary.
• Give it all good stir and serve, or pop in the fridge for later

 

What changes can I make

• Change the rice to barley – lovely, malty, chewy grains, and very inexpensive. Or try quinoa or couscous.
• If you prefer the taste or texture of fresh peppers, by all means use those. Any colour is fine. You could use a fresh pepper either cooked or raw, but do chop it up small.
• I like raisins in a salad for a little hit of sweetness, but any dried fruit would work just fine. Make sure any larger dried fruit, apricots for instance, are cut up small.
• If you don’t like gherkins, leave them out, but a strong flavour like that is good in a rice salad. So you could use something like olives or capers instead
• I like the salty hit of a salted peanut, but any nut can be substituted, whatever you have. For a bit of extra flavour, you could try toasting them first, and even tossing them with a little olive oil and brown sugar and salt.
• The mushrooms add umami. If you don’t like them, just leave them out
• Add a little sweet chilli or Hoisin sauce, or my favourite Patak’s aubergine pickle
• In fact all the ingredients can be changed around, substituted, omitted and swapped. What have you got?

 

This recipe is from a series – how to poach a chicken and feed your family all week with it

1. How To Poach A Chicken – still to come
2. Tagliatelle with Chicken, Olives, Sultanas and Lemon – still to come
3. Mushroom and Chicken Crumble – an oaty topping enhanced with seeds and nuts, with a creamy mushroomy, chicken base
4. Chicken & Rice Salad , with red peppers, peas, raisins, nuts, gherkins and using some of the chicken stock – this post
5. Chicken & BBQ Pizza, sweetcorn, onion, red pepper, mozzarella and cheddar – still to come
6. Coronation Chicken Jacket Potato – still to come
7. Red Cabbage Waldorf with apple, walnut and dressing – still to come
8. Chicken Tart with Butternut Squash, Lemon Zest & Parmesan – still to come

 

Other recipes you might like

How to stretch a chicken to last the whole week

 

Fishless kedgeree, 64p, or use it as vegetable rice, 25p

Chicken, Soy, Honey and Sesame with Rice