Hot Rice Salad

Looking for a salad that's not only versatile, but delicious? Try Chinese Hot Rice Salad as a main meal or side-dish, served hot or cold. Hot Rice Salad is delightful any way you serve it! This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients

For the dressing, you will need:

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice

For the salad, you will need:

• 2 - 2 1/2 cups water (for boiling rice)
• 1 cup brown rice
• 2 cups chicken, cooked and diced
• 1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 3 green onions, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 cup water chestnuts

Preparation

*Preparation Tip: Rice can take up to an hour to cook. See packaging on rice for appropriate amount of time needed and make sure to allot enough preparation time.

1. In large saucepan, bring brown rice and water to boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Let rice simmer until water is absorbed, approximately 45 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.


2. In large mixing bowl, combine cooked rice, cooked chicken, sliced mushrooms, diced green onion, diced bell pepper, and water chestnuts. Mix well.


3. To prepare dressing, use smaller bowl. Combine ground ginger, soy sauce, olive oil and lemon juice. Mix well.


4. Toss chicken and rice mixture with dressing and let chill in refrigerator, covered for 6 to 8 hours or up to overnight.


5. Toss gently before serving.

Variations

• Substitute instant brown rice for regular brown rice.
• Substitute white rice or long grain rice for brown rice.
• To serve hot, sauté cooked chicken, mushrooms and bell peppers 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix with cooked rice, green onions, water chestnuts and dressing mix. Skip step 4. Serve warm.
• For spice, add crushed red peppers to taste.
• For vegetarian Hot Rice Salad, do not add chicken.
• Garnish with green onions.