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Healthy Grain Salad

May 29, 2013 | Salads, Vegetarian

This substantial, healthy grain salad recipe is a great side dish or nutritious main meal. When entertaining a large group it can be prepared ahead of time, and just assembled at the last minute. Leftovers are also great for filling lunch boxes the next day.

So what’s so good about it?

The brown rice combined with the lentils forms a completely vegetarian source of protein. The nuts and seeds also contribute protein and essential fats. The coriander leaves and parsley leaves are a rich source of many vitamins and minerals including iron, as well as being great liver detoxifiers. The lemon zest and juice is wonderful for your immune system and the yogurt and tahini dressing is a fantastic source of calcium. For more information on the most nourishing grains to include in your diet, see here.

Best of all it tastes absolutely delicious! I love making salads, especially those that are substantial and filling like this one. I also really like that one batch, does us for at least two meals or more.

Take a look at the variations (below the main recipe) for suggestions to alter the recipe to suit many specific dietary requirements.

Healthy Grain Salad

Prep 15 minutes
Cook 30 minutes
Total 45 minutes
ADD TO FAVORITESADDED TO FAVORITES
5 from 4 votes
This Healthy Grain Salad is a delicious, filing salad that's great for entertaining and so delicious. 

Ingredients

  • 180 g brown rice (1 cup)
  • 150 g puy (French) lentils (¾ cup)
  • 1 red onion/s -peeled, halved and sliced
  • 30 g  pumpkin seeds (¼ cup) toasted
  • 25 g flaked almonds (¼ cup) toasted
  • 35 g pine nuts (¼ cup) toasted
  • 45 g currants (½ cup)
  • 3 tbsp capers -drained
  • 1 bunch/s fresh coriander leaves -washed and picked off the stems
  • ½ bunch/s fresh parsley leaves -finely chopped

Dressing

  • 1 lemon/s -juice and zest one
  • 3-4 tbsp olive oil -extra virgin
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper -to taste

Yoghurt and tahini sauce

  • 250 g full-fat natural yoghurt (1 cup)
  • 1 tbsp hulled tahini 
  • 1 tsp sea salt - or to taste
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Method

  • Cook the rice and lentils (* links to cooking instructions for each below). 
  • Allow to cool and place in a salad bowl. Add the onion, nuts, seeds, currants, capers, coriander and parsley. Toss together until well combined.
  • For the dressing, mix the oil, lemon juice, and zest together well. 
  • For the yoghurt sauce, mix the ingredients together in a small serving bowl or jug.
  • Prior to serving, dress the salad and toss well to coat the grains. 
  • Serve with the yoghurt in a small side dish or jug.

Store

  • Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Variations

More vegetables

Feel free to add extra vegetables such as grated carrot, slices of radish or cherry tomatoes would work well.

Dairy-free and vegan

Serve with hummus or sub the yoghurt for coconut yoghurt.

Grain-free

Substitute the rice with quinoa. I do this version often though I think the brown rice adds a nice crunchy texture.

Onion-free

Replace the onion with 5 sliced radish.

Legume-free

Substitute the lentils with quinoa.

Nut-free

Replace the pine nuts and almonds with sunflower and sesame seeds.

Make a meal of it

  • Add slices of lamb (I often make this when I have a little lamb left over from a roast, but not quite enough for a whole meal).
  • Also, add crumbled feta and mint leaves for a delicious Greek-inspired meal.
  • Add a fillet of grilled or barbecued salmon smeared with horseradish cream.  The capers in the salad work really well with fish. Throw in a few dill leaves.
  • Add grilled chicken and slices of apple for a fresh, uplifting salad.

Make it go further

Add mixed leaves to the salad (spinach, rocket or lettuce) and a little more dressing.
*Rice and lentil cooking instructions  here and here

Tip

If you plan on splitting it between meals, then leave some of the salad undressed and dress prior to serving. It's not the end of the world to store it if it has been dressed - just the nuts and seeds loose a little of their crunch. It still tastes as good, though.
For lots more sides and salad inspo, take a look at my hugely popular ebook ˜Well Nourished Sides and Salads’- where vegetables become the hero of the dish! It’s great value at just $9.95, click HERE to take a look.

Give it a go, you won't be disappointed. Did you put your own spin on it? Share how you served it by adding a comment below.

Course: Salad

Share the goodness!

Category: Salads, Vegetarian Tags: coconutfree, cornfree, dairyfree, eggfree, garlicfree, glutenfree, grainfree, legumefree, lentils, lowfructose, lowsugar, nutfree, onionfree, rice, salad, seafoodfree, sesamefree, soyfree, vegan, vegetarian, wheatfree, yeastfree

Reader Interactions

16 Comments

Post a comment
  1. Lucy says

    Made this for lunch and it was lovely! Thanks!

    May 30, 2013
    Reply
    • Georgia Harding says

      Glad you enjoyed it Lucy. It’s one of my favourites. G x

      May 30, 2013
      Reply
  2. Rosanne O'Brien says

    Made this for dinner tonight to go with some Salmon. Molly now loves salmon and enjoyed the salad as long as it was mixed with the salmon. Thanks Georgia x

    June 3, 2013
    Reply
    • Georgia Harding says

      Thanks for your feedback. That’s what I love about this salad. It can be a meal in itself or mixed with almost anything else, from cheese to lamb to fish. My kids love leftovers mixed with a can of tuna in the school lunch box. G x

      June 3, 2013
      Reply
  3. Debbie says

    Hi Georgia,
    Made this tonight- delicious! We all enjoyed it and I looking forward to having some more for lunch tomorrow!
    Deb.

    June 12, 2013
    Reply
    • Georgia Harding says

      Great Deb, really pleased it was a hit. You can even add a can of tuna or a couple of boiled eggs for your lunch if you need it to stretch. G x

      June 12, 2013
      Reply
  4. Kymelle says

    Just made this for lunch and it was so delicious! Loved the combination of chewy rice, salty capers, crunchy nuts and seeds and tangy dressing. Can’t wait to eat the leftovers tomorrow! I soaked the lentils before cooking and added finely chopped red capsicum and mint. Yum!!! Thanks for another fab recipe 🙂

    June 23, 2014
    Reply
    • Georgia Harding says

      You’re welcome Kymelle. It is a lovely combo of flavours and textures, glad you enjoyed it, G x

      June 23, 2014
      Reply
  5. Susan says

    Delicious salad. I love all the nutty things mixed into the chewy grains.

    January 4, 2018
    Reply
    • Georgia Harding says

      Glad you liked it Susan. I did an Asian version of this – rice and quinoa for the grains, with loads of fresh ginger in the dressing (and coriander and mint for greens), cranberries instead of currants (for Christmas) and it was also beautiful. Must make it again and share the exact recipe. Gx

      January 8, 2018
      Reply
  6. Bianca says

    5 stars
    This is so simple and delicious! The flavours of the dressings are a brilliant mix! Thank you! 🙂

    January 15, 2019
    Reply
    • Georgia Harding says

      Thanks Bianca, thrilled you enjoyed it and thanks for reviewing the recipe too, Georgia x

      January 19, 2019
      Reply
  7. Elaine says

    5 stars
    Loved this salad thanks Georgia! I wasn’t too sure seeing all the grains/seeds/nuts in the ingredients and wondered how they would all go together but with the dressing and yoghurt sauce it is so well balanced and the texture is lovely!

    June 20, 2019
    Reply
    • Georgia Harding says

      Glad you enjoyed it Elaine. It is a nice combo of flavours. Appreciate your feedback and the 5 ? rating G x

      June 24, 2019
      Reply
  8. Zanthe Bohan says

    5 stars
    Yum. Always have this with middle eastern beef brisket. Like to add some cucumber and red capsicum occasionally.

    October 23, 2021
    Reply
    • Well Nourished Team says

      What a great salad to have with the brisket for sure, so glad you enjoyed it 🙂

      October 25, 2021
      Reply

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