Lemon-herb rice salad

Do you have a dish that’s requested at every family gathering?….Let me re-phrase that, a dish that is requested of you for every social event? A dish you make so often, you could prepare it with your eyes closed?

I certainly do! My lemon-herb rice salad is highly popular among my family and friends. I make it for just about every family get-together, except for maybe Thanksgiving and Christmas, but all the picnics and birthday parties and other fun festivities in between. In fact, I even made a batch big enough to serve 150 women at an event at my church a few years ago! Yeah it’s that good.

But I can’t take all the credit for this salad. My dear friend Alex first introduced me to this recipe years ago when we were catering a different, and much smaller-scaled church event. And even so, she adapted her recipe from The Food Network. I loved the rice salad so much and wanted to make it slightly healthier with my own twist on it, and that is how my version of the lemon-herb rice salad was born.

I swapped out the white jasmine rice for brown rice, and sometimes I even make it with quinoa! Because Alex made her rice salad sans peanuts, cucumbers, and watercress, I too left these out of my recipe. I really didn’t think those items would add much to the salad, but I wanted to add some protein to make the salad heartier, so I added thawed frozen peas. I also slightly reduced the amount of brown sugar in the dressing, and added freshly shredded carrots to compliment the bright green peas, fresh green herbs, and the beautiful purply pickled red onions. It’s like confetti!

If I’m being honest, it’s the homemade dressing, that the red onions actually pickle in, that makes this salad superb. Lots of fresh lemon zest and juice and unseasoned rice wine vinegar. When I make double or triple batches, I use more lemons to make more dressing, just in case. I let the onions marinate in the dressing overnight, which makes them softer and even more delicate on the palate. Plus, the longer they pickle, the more beautiful redish-purple hue the onions and the dressing take on.

Keep this recipe in your toolbox for your next cookout or potluck. It’s excellent for making in large quantities, or just making a single batch and keeping it all to yourself. It’s even better the next day! And the fragrant bouquet of herbs are the same three herbs (basil, mint, and cilantro) used to garnish pho, so if you have extra, which I always do, plan to make pho the next day!

Lemon-herb rice salad

2 lemons, zest and juice
1/4 tsp salt, more to taste if needed
1/4 tsp. black pepper, more to taste if needed
1/2 medium red onion, very thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, shredded
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups brown rice, short grain or long grain
2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1-1.5 tsp. brown sugar
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

First prepare the dressing. Using a microplane, zest the one entire lemon into a small mixing bowl. Using a vegetable peeler, peel a few slices of the other lemon rind and set aside for later use in the rice. Then, cut both lemons in half and squeeze the juice from both into the bowl. Add the rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, olive oil, salt, and black pepper. Whisk together. Toss in the thin red onion slices and allow the onions to marinate at least 5 hours, or overnight, stirring occasionally.

While the onions pickle, prepare the rice. Make the rice in a rice cooker and add in those lemon peel slices you set aside earlier. This will make your house smell amazing! Once the rice has finished cooking, remove from the rice cooker and allow the rice to cool to completely to room temperature. This is very important to allow the rice to cool – if the rice is too hot, it will wilt the fresh herbs and turn them brown quickly.

Once the rice has cooled, toss in the shredded carrots, peas, dressing with the pickled onions and gently stir to combine. Last but not least, add in the fresh herbs and gently stir again, being careful not to bruise the herbs too much. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve

**Recipe serves 4-6 as a side dish. It’s best served at room temperature, so plan to take it out of the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to serving.