Red Rice Salad with Egg

Today is one of those days when I would have preferred to just stay in bed. It's grey and gloomy outside, no snow, but fairly cold winds. And my office is really cold too. I feel like spring inside, but outside.. well, it's definitely still winter.

I found this recipe over at Heidi's excellent 101 Cookbooks, and as most of the recipes from her that I've tried, this was another winner. It's a fun one because you can add pretty much anything you want. It's like a Swedish Pyttipanna, but with completely different ingredients.

I happened to have red rice, but you don't have to use that. Regular white rice will do just as nicely - basmati would be particularly good, I think. And I bet black rice would look pretty! I'm trying that next time. Heidi suggests boiling eggs for this salad, but I preferred to top it with a fried egg instead.

Red Rice Salad with Egg
Serves 3-4

250 ml (1 cup) red rice, uncooked
500 ml water

1 tbsp oil
4 shallots, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely minced or grated
1 tsp ground coriander
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
200 g green beans, cut into smaller pieces
160 ml coconut milk
3-4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsk dark syrup or molasses
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
1 large bunch of fresh basil, finely shredded
1 handful macadamia nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

to serve:
lime
egg

Bring the water to a boil. Rinse the rice carefully and add it to the water. Cover with a lid and let it cook on low heat for 45 minutes. Remove from heat, and place the rice in a shallow bowl to cool off.

Heat the oil in a large wok or frying pan. Fry shallots, garlic, chilli, ginger, coriander, carrot and green beans for a few minutes. Add the coconut milk, soy sauce and syrup, and let it cook for a few minutes. Add the rice, and if the dish looks too dry, add some water. Stir in some sweet chili sauce, and taste - you might want to add some more soy sauce for saltiness. Finally stir in the basil, and top with the macadamias. Serve it with lime wedges to squeeze over, and a fried egg if you want to.

Recipe in Swedish:
Röd rispytt