This easy salad is a real family favourite, and was made by Bibi each Christmas on Taid’s birthday (27th December) as he loved it so much, particularly with thick slices of Bibi’s homemade Christmas ham. So now Emily & Estella make it every year on that day too to remember him. It’s really just an exercise in chopping once you’ve cooked the rice and made the dressing.
We always used to think that Estella’s grandfather, Taid, had a particularly dismal day for a birthday – right in that dull spot after Christmas and before New Year. But he disagreed! He said it was the best day for a birthday as he was always guaranteed to be with his daughter (and then granddaughter) on the day, plus he got one of his favourite meals – ham and this rice salad!
Start by cooking your rice – do this early as you want it to be cool before you add the main ingredients. We think long grain rice is best for this recipe, but you could use basmati if you prefer (it will just give a softer texture). Follow our rice Tip on how to cook it perfectly for lovely, fluffy rice. Today we were making rice salad for a family party so we cooked a LOT. Two cups of dry rice would make a decent sized salad for four to six, and scale up from there.
While your rice is cooking, make your dressing, We use a classic vinaigrette, you can find our how to make it in our Tip. One quantity is enough for a two cup salad for four to six.
When the rice is cooked, tip it into the bowl you plan to serve the salad in, making sure it is big enough to fit all the other ingredients. Break it up with a metal spoon a bit to separate the grains. Add the dressing while the rice is still warm and stir well. Allow to cool.
Jake sticks his nose in
Dressing the rice while it is warm will help the rice absorb the vinaigrette for maximum flavour and texture
Now chop the ingredients – we tend to start with the firmest vegetables first, then add the less stable ones (like the apple, which goes brown quickly) last. The idea is to get pieces of all the ingredients that are roughly similar in size, apart from the spring onions which you probably want a bit smaller. We measure all the ingredients by eye – play around with the mix until you get a blend of sharp and sweet that you like. But as a guide, for a four to six person salad, it is probably around two peppers, one apple, one or two celery stalks, two or three spring onions, one small tin of pineapple and about half a cup of sultanas.
Chop the peppers into rounds, removing the white pith which can be bitter, Chop into bite sized pieces. We use a mix of pepper colours, partly because it looks pretty and festive, and partly because we like the contrast of the sweetness of the red or yellow peppers with the bitterness of the green. Add to the rice.
Now chop the celery, we only use a little for crunch. Top and tail the stalks. Today our stalks were quite wide, so we then sliced into two lengthwise before chopping.
Add the celery to the bowl. Then cut the bushy ends off the spring onions and strip off the outer layer, then cut with scissors straight into the bowl – you want nice small slices so the onion is not too strong in each forkful.
Next chop the tinned pineapple. Tinned pineapple is a good product, but always choose the sort in natural juice, not syrup, for this dish. A better quality grade of tinned is also worth the extra cost. Today we had chunks, so cut each one in half. If using rings, just chop each one into bite sized pieces. Add to the salad. Also add sultanas to taste (we like quite a lot).
Stir everything in really well, then finally prepare the apple. We use a red apple, but any type you like will do. Remove the core – we have a corer, but if you don’t just cut the apple into quarters and cut the centres out. Working quickly, chop into bite sized pieces and add to the salad immediately. Stir well again.
Jake sticks his nose in
Apples oxidizes, i.e. go brown, very quickly once cut, which is why we cut and add them last. The acid in the salad from the vinaigrette and pineapple with prevent the apple from going brown when in the salad.
Taste a little salad for seasoning and to check you like the proportions – you can always add more of any ingredient you like. Today we added a very small pinch of salt, and a decent grinding of pepper. Stir well again.
Chill until you are ready to serve – it keeps well for two to three days too. Just remove from the fridge about half an hour before you need it as if it is fridge-cold it will dull the flavour. Serve with your Christmas cold meats, or whatever you prefer. It also makes a nice, refreshing light lunch or supper on its own – we always make sure we have enough for leftovers.
Enjoy! Happy New Year, and Happy Birthday Taid.
