Bombay Rice Salad

Its almost the end of the BBQ season and what a great summer we had this year! I have had great fun this year making some old BBQ favorites and adding some new recipes to the mix too. One of the most important parts of a BBQ, I think, are the sides. Sometimes you can get so caught up with the whole meat side of things that the salads and sides are forgotten, but I think they can make or break a BBQ.

Bombay rice salad has always been one of my favorites. Its an oldie but a goodie. And so easy to pre-make. As well as for BBQ's, I find its great for meal prepping lunches during the week too. You can make a big batch on a Sunday and have a few spoonfuls in your lunchbox along with your main lunch and it will last the week well.

There are no hard and fast rules with my Bombay rice, you can switch it up with whatever you have in your kitchen, it can be made with any rice, I know brown and wild rice mix are the best, but really any rice you have on hand will do. You can add red or white onion or even spring onion or scallions, again whatever you have.

Nuts and raisins: I always add nuts and raisins or sultanas, as it adds dept and texture and crunch to the salad. But of course you can leave one or both out if you are not a fan. As for nuts, peanuts in this salad are my favorite but I have made this with walnuts and pecans and it tastes just as good. 

Ingredients
Salad
2  cups of brown/wild/white rice
½ cup of red/white onion finely diced
½ cup of sweet red peppers , finely diced
½ cup toasted nuts (pecans or peanuts) chopped
½ cup raisins or sultanas

Dressing
¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil
2  tbsp white or red wine vinegar(whichever you have)
1  tbsp of granulated sugar
1½  tbsp of curry powder
½   tbsp of turmeric(optional)
crack of salt 
crack of black pepper

Instructions 

1. Cook your rice as normal and set it aside.
2. Once cooled, add in all the other salad ingredients and mix well.
3. Make your dressing, shaking it up and combining all the ingredients well, making sure the sugar dissolves. 
4. Drizzle the dressing over and mix well. 
5. Keep chilled in the fridge until needed.

Note : This can be made in advance and the dressing kept separately and just added before serving to keep the salad crunchy and fresh.