Yogurt Rice Salad

It is time to slip on your flip-flops, unroll your picnic blankets, fire up the grill and soak up the sun. Summer is here!

Here is a colourful salad recipe that is a perfect accompaniment to grilled vegetables or meat. It is a light, fresh, and easy-to-make salad that can be packed up and whisked away to a summer potluck at a friend’s place. Or take it to a family picnic by the river. I personally love to eat it with grilled merguez sausages – the flavours work so well together.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups basmati rice
• 500 g natural Greek yogurt
• 1 medium onion, minced
• ½ of a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, grated
• 1 green or red chilli, sliced (optional for some heat)
• 1 packet fresh chives, chopped fine
• 1 cup sliced grapes
• 2 carrots, grated
• 1 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1 tsp. black mustard seeds (optional)
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 3 Tbs. oil
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Cook your rice and let it cool down; then fluff the rice with a fork. Once the rice is completely cool put it into a salad bowl and pour the yogurt over.
2. Throw in the grated carrots, sliced grapes, half of the chopped chives and the pomegranate seeds. Set aside.
3. Mince the onion, finely slice the chillies and grate the bit of ginger.
4. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan; then cook the cumin and mustard seeds till they crackle and pop. Lower the heat.
5. Throw in the onion, chillies and ginger. Sauté on low heat till the onions are translucent.
6. Add the onion mixture to the salad bowl with the rice, yogurt and fruit. Sprinkle with salt to taste.
7. Give it all a good mix and garnish with the rest of the chives and some pomegranate seeds.

Recipe and photo by Maria de Conceicao Wittwer

Maria is a mother of two and lives in the Baden region of Aargau. Besides looking after her tiny humans and working as a freelance copy editor and content creator, she is also pursuing her two passions, cooking and photograph.  Find her culinary creations over here @CurryOnCooking.ch on Instagram.