Wild rice salad with green bean, sweet potato and lemon-parsley oil

(serves 4)

Adapted from Neighbourhood by Hetty McKinnon

I've only ever made one other mixed rice salad and I really enjoyed that as a side so I was excited to find another recipe with a mix of grains, legumes, beans, nuts and herbs - everything we need for a balanced vegetarian meal! I found this wild rice blend at Aldi (yay special buys!), but probably need to source the coloured rice elsewhere in the future. I added sweet potato to this because we have a toddler and that's one vegetable I know she will eat, plus it adds some colour and vegetable bulk to the salad. Personally, I especially liked the salty olive surprises in this salad!

Prep time: 20 min

Cooking time: 40 min (mostly for the rice cooker)

Ingredients
2 cups wild rice blend (red, brown, black rice - store bought blend or self-blended)
1/2 cup quinoa 
1 cup vegetable stock (or water)
2 medium sweet potato (approximately 700 g)
300 g green beans
250 g cooked chickpeas (about 1 can), drained and rinsed
20 pitted Kalamata olives, halved
3 Tbsp finely sliced Chinese shallots
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
3 Tbsp walnuts, toasted and crushed

Lemon-parsley oil
1 small garlic clove
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
squeeze of lemon juice
salt and black pepper

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 C.
2. Cut the sweet potato into 2cm squares, lightly dress with olive oil and salt and roast in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until cooked and starting to brown. Remove and let it cool. 
3. Use the rice cooker to cook the wild rice blend, following instructions on the packet or aiming for a 1 cup grain: 2 cup water ratio.

4. Cook the quinoa in one cup of vegetable stock or water on the stovetop for 12 to 15 minutes, taking it off the heat once the liquid has been all absorbed. Keep mixing it through and allow it to cool and dry out.
5. Top and tail the green beans and cut into 3cm lengths. Heat the olive oil in a small fry pan over high heat and add the beans with a pinch of salt and sauté for 5 minutes or until tender and starting to brown. Leave to cool.

Fresh beans from our garden!

6. To make the lemon-parsley oil, add the garlic, one teaspoon of salt, half cup of chopped parsley, olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice into a small food processor and process until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

A little fake lemon contribution from my toddler for the photos, it's good she's getting into the spirit of food photography :)

7. Combine the rice, quinoa, green beans, sweet potato, chickpeas, olives, shallots and parsley in a large salad bowl. Toss together and season with salt and pepper. To serve, drizzle over the lemon-parsley oil and scatter over the walnuts.

Toddler (deconstructed) and adult meal