This brown rice salad is packed with flavour and makes a fantastic weekday meal. It’s easy to make, great for meal prepping and equally perfect as a side salad at a BBQ. It’s a very colourful salad which makes it not only beautiful to look and but also more fun to eat. The grilled zucchini and capsicum add a great smoky aroma and crunch to the salad. On the other hand, the pomegranate and lemon juice add freshness and zing.
All in all, this salad only uses 9 ingredients and is made in just over 30 minutes. Cooking brown rice from scratch takes a little bit of time but it’s definitely worth it. The brown rice adds a light earthiness to the salad which works really well with the grilled vegetables and punchy pomegranate.
If you’re looking for more delicious salads, make sure to also check out these recipes:
I hope you enjoy this brown rice salad. Please let me know how you go in the comments and don’t forget to tag @nothangryanymore on Instagram. I love seeing your re-creations!
Annick
Brown Rice Salad with Grilled Vegetables and Pomegranate
Annick
A simple and delicious weekday lunch or dinner. Perfect for meal prepping and at BBQs.
Thoroughly rinse the brown rice. To properly rinse rice, add the rice into a pot and cover it with water. Swirl the rice around with your finger or a spoon. Drain the water. Repeat 3-4 times until the water is no longer starchy and (close to) clear.
Add the brown rice and 800g water into a pot and bring the water to the boil. Once boiling, add a lid and turn the heat to "low". Cook the rice for about 25 minutes. Turn off the heat and steam the rice for a further 5 minutes.
In the meantime, cut the capsicum into large pieces and the zucchini into slices. I like cut the zucchini slices on a slight angle to achieve a larger surface area for grilling.
Add the cut capsicum and zucchini into a bowl together with 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Mix everything until the vegetables are evenly coated in oil.
Grill the vegetables on a hot griddle pan or BBQ for 2-3 minutes on each side or until dark charred lines are visible on the vegetables. Once cooked, remove the vegetables from the grill and place them onto a side plate for later use.
Remove the pomegranate seeds. If you're unsure how to effectively remove pomegranate seeds, watch the video linked in the notes.
To assemble the salad, add the cooked brown rice into a salad bowl together with the grilled zucchini and capsicum. Then, add most of the pomegranate seeds, juice from 1/2 lemon and 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Mix everything until combined.
Season the salad with salt flakes to taste and garnish the salad with fresh parsley leaves and a sprinkle of leftover pomegranate seeds.
Notes
Watch this video on how to remove pomegranate seeds.
