Brown Rice Salad with Chickpeas and Nuts

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN

PER ITALIANO

Hello,

Is it too hot and you don't feel like eating anything? We have just the recipe for you!

Brown Rice Salad with Chickpeas and Nuts is a lifesaver for us for many reasons. The first of all it is delicious and refreshing! It is easy to prepare. It works great as take away food. We can pack and take it to anywhere.. to the beach, picnic, our travels. A good lunch idea also for those who take their own food to the office.

I used ribe rice for today's recipe because it was what I got at the moment. I previously made this with organic and brown basmati, jasmine, red, black and wild rice or with a mixture of them.

Why is it important for us that our rice is both brown and also organic?

-Brown rice is a whole grain, instead white rice is a refined grain which loses much of its fiber and nutrients during the process. Brow rice is higher in fiber, protein, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals while it has a lower glycemic index.

-Brown rice, unlike white rice, contains all parts of the grain — the bran, germ, and endosperm. This may mean higher exposure to pesticide residues when it comes to conventional rice production which uses over 40 different pesticides to control weeds and insects.That's why we prefer to use organic rice products. As a matter of fact I use organic whenever its about whole grains.

I was inspired by a recipe in Gaz Oakley's beautiful cookbook "Vegan 100". I've made a few changes and additions to the original recipe, adapted it also to our whole food plant based diet.

Ingredients (for 6):
250 g organic brown rice
30 g unsweetened shredded coconut
30 g lightly toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
30 g pecans, roughly chopped
4 spring onions, chopped into small pieces
50 g dried apricots, chopped into small pieces
150 g green - red - yellow bell pepper, chopped into pieces
150 g corn, no sugar added
300 g cooked chickpeas
Fresh juice of 1 lemon

1 TBSP dry mint and 1/2 TBSP dry oregano

Additionally if you'd like;

1 - 2 TBSP dried blackcurrants

Red pepper flakes

Black pepper

Little salt

Curly lettuce for garnish

Preparation:

Mixed Lettuce, Fennel and Apple Salad

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

Today I would like to share with you guys one of our salad recipes that I make often in the winter.

We always liked salad but after reading "Eat to Live" and "The End of Dieting" by Dr Joel Fuhrman we liked it even more and our portions got bigger and bigger. We eat two large bowls of salad almost every day, one for lunch, one for dinner.

According to Dr Fuhrman, who bases the foundation of his healthy diet on the foods rich in nutrients, antioxidants and phytochemicals, the more salad and vegetables you eat the more fit and healthier you get and, you also get to have more protection against many health problems and diseases. The aim is to eat one pound of raw and one pound of cooked vegetables per day. Of course, we musn't forget to consume a good amount of legumes, fruits and also some raw nuts and seeds on a daily basis according to Fuhrman's nutritarian diet.

I recommend the book not only to those who want to get fıt but also those who would like to have protection against heart disease, who suffer from high cholesterol, high pressure, diabetes... etc.   We experienced very positive effects on our health. Stefano, my husband lost 15 kg in a little more than a year, was able to finally quit cholesterol medication. It's been quite a while now and thanks to our lifestyle change he managed to keep fit. He got rid of the vicious cycle which was led by yo-yo dieting.

I didn't have much of a problem with my weight although I admit that I often felt tired. I noticed that I feel more energetic and I hardly catch flu recently. I also read many success stories of people who managed to quit their high pressure, cholesterol even diabetes medications thanks to the change they've made to a whole food plant based lifestyle.

If you too are one of us, who prefer to solve/prevent health problems by natural ways, healthy nutrition, and lifestyle, the books of Dr Fuhrman can lead you the way.

Before the salad recipe I'd like to share with you a few tips which may save you some time and effort while preparing your salads.

As you know, lettuce requires a lot of washing and good amount of chopping. Here is what I do in short. I wash all the lettuce I have in the fridge, which would be enough for us for the next 3 days. After drying and chopping I put them in zipper bags and store in the fridge. This saves me a lot of work when I need lettuce for my salad. You may ask "But wouldn't it be better to wash and chop our lettuce close to serving time from a nutrient perspective. Well, it most certainly would! However, as a person who has been trying to eat in a healthy manner I've reached this conclusion: when something is not practical enough application fails. No matter how motivated you feel about a healthy diet, sooner or later you don't feel like washing, drying, chopping lettuce all day.

If I am to store some prewashed and cut lettuce in the fridge I cut leaves by knife, I find it less bruising.

I often use a minimum of 4 types of green - red leaf varieties. Using different colored leaves enrichen your salad as nutrient-wise and it also looks so pretty and appetizing.

My lettuce selection vary depending on the season and what is freshly available at the market. I pick them from the freshest and best looking varieties available at the moment. Some of our favourites are Romaine lettuce, Boston lettuce, curly endive, canasta lettuce, arugula, radicchio, iceberg, scarola lettuce... etc.

Even though I give the amounts for each ingredient below as I always do, they are mostly exemplary. You can change up to your needs. You can use different lettuces due to the season and what you may find in your own farmer's market.

Ingredients (for 1):

120 g green - red lettuce mixture(*)
50 g Granny Smith apple
30 g fennel
30 g cucumber
20 g arugula
2 radishes (including leaves)
30 g carrot
1 tsp raw or lightly toasted sunflower seeds
1 tsp raw or lightly toasted pumpkin seeds
1/2 tsp freshly toasted flax seeds
1/2 tsp lightly toasted sesame seeds
1/2 - 1 tsp granulated onion (or 1 tbsp thinly sliced scallion)


Dressing
Balsamic vinegar

(*) In this salad I used Romaine, gentilina, Iceberg and radicchio lettuce.


Preparation: