Portions

6 big portions

Difficulty

Medium

Resting time

1 hour

Cooking time

20+15 minutes

I’m sure we all have a special recipe that our mom prepares for us, that only she can prepare and that makes us feel like kids again. This rice salad is not a boring side dish, it’s a delicious dish that can be eaten on its own or as the perfect side dish for a special lunch/dinner. This salad is also a classic in our family, we eat it every time we make barbecues and parties and in every Holiday. We always get asked for the recipe after our guests eat it. I learned how to prepare it and I continued this tradition here in Vienna. This salad is vegetarian but you can easily make it vegan by replacing the mayonnaise for a vegan one.

Ingredients

For the rice:

1 1/3 cup of Basmati rice (250 g approx.)
2 2/3 cups of boiled water (600 ml approx.)
1 tbsp oil approx. (sunflower or canola)
A generous pinch of salt

For the rest of the salad:

1 cup or 150 g of vegetables mix approx. (it can be carrots, coliflower, broccoli, sweetcorn, peas, etc.)
3-4 pickles 40 g approx.
15 pitted black olives
1 avocado (don’t use one that is too soft, it’s better if you use one that is ripe enough but still firm)
1 big tomato 200 g approx.
2 egg whites + pinch of salt

For the mayonnaise:

2 egg yolks
150 -200 ml oil approx. (sunflower or canola, *please don’t use olive oil for this)
A generous pinch of salt
Drops of lemon juice

Instructions

For the rice: First boil 1/2 a litre of water and have it ready to use. Add the rice to a pot, with a drop of oil (sunflower, canola) and a generous pinch of salt. Cook for 1 minute on medium heat while you stir. Add then the hot water, wait until it starts boiling and put the temperature down to a minimum. Cook for approx. 15 minutes with half the lid on.
Let the rice cool down completely (overnight or a few hours before you are planning to serve it).
Use a bowl to whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt. Whip them to firm peaks (merengue).

Once the rice is cold, add the merengue and mix with a spatula until it’s completely mixed together (this steps helps the rice to split and to not get big clumps of rice). *If you are vegan, skip this step.
For the rest of the salad: Boil the mix of vegetables with a pinch of salt and cook until they are soft (5-10 minutes approx., depends on the vegetables you are cooking). Let them cool down completely and then the bigger vegetables cut them in smaller pieces. Do not cut the sweetcorn and peas.
Cut the black olives and the pickles in thin slices or small pieces.
Peel the tomato and cut it in small cubes.
Peel the avocado and cut it in small cubes as well.

For the mayonnaise: you can prepare it by hand, use a hand mixer/minipimer or use a bought mayonnaise you like. I do it by hand: Put the egg yolks in a soup plate or small bowl and with a whisk or a spoon, whisk them short. Start adding one drop of oil at a time and continue whisking with fast motions. Slowly it will start to thicken. Keep adding carefully drops of oils, once you have reach a thick consistency, you can add big drops of oil, while you keep whisking, until you get the amount you want (use 150-200 ml of oil approx.). It should be thick and not too runny. Add at the end a big drop of lemon juice and salt and mix again.

After your mayonnaise is done, add it to the rice with the merengue. (if you are vegan, only use vegan mayonnaise and skip the step of the merengue). Mix well together with a spatula.

Add now the mix of vegatables, the slices of olives and pickles and the cubes of tomato. Mix well together.
Add at the end the avocado in cubes and very carefully mix all together. Try the salad, add extra salt or lemon juice if necessary.
Serve the salad in a big salad bowl or serve it in smaller portions.

Keep the salad in the fridge until you serve it. If there’s still some salad left after the meal, you can eat it on the next day too if you have kept it the whole time in the fridge (it is very important to keep this salad refrigerated because of the mayonnaise). Enjoy!