How To Make Rice Salad

This is another good meal for using up leftover bits and pieces so alter the ingredients to suit yourself. Try prawns, tuna, smoked salmon or a mixture of all three instead of cold meat, or keep it vegetarian and add more salad ingredients such as finely chopped peppers and mushrooms. The most important point is to cool the cooked rice quickly by straining through a colander immediately then rinsing under cold running water and refrigerating as soon as possible. (If you leave cooked rice to cool down gradually the warm starch can become a haven for nasty bacteria.) Reheat cold rice in the microwave or in a pan with very hot oil until it’s piping hot.

1. Step 1:

   Rinse the rice and put it in a saucepan of boiling water; boil rapidly for a couple of minutes then turn the heat down low and simmer gently for about 10 minutes (don’t walk away and do something else; you don’t want mushy, overcooked rice).

2. Step 2:

   Strain the cooked rice through a colander; rinse with plenty of cold water, then put the drained rice in a large bowl. Cover loosely with a clean cloth or a piece of foil. (You don’t need to keep the rice in the fridge if you’re planning to eat it straight away; rice salad tastes better at room temperature than chilled.)

3. Step 3:

   cook the baby sweetcorn and sugar snap peas (preferably in the microwave) so they still have plenty of crunch, then add to the rice.

4. Step 4:

   Chop the meat, halve the avocado and cut into chunks, then add everything to the bowl of rice with the seasoning, whichever herbs you want to use, and a little olive oil.

5. Step 5:

   Blend everything together by stirring gently with a large metal spoon and serve.