This spiced wild rice and pea salad is a lovely salad to eat at any time of year and is a great vegan choice too. Perfect as a main meal or a side dish.
The start of the year is definitely the time to eat healthily but some salads just don't suit cold wintery weather. The good news is that there are plenty of salads which are just right at any time of year and this spiced wild rice and pea salad is one of them.
The beauty of this pea salad is that it is so versatile. You can serve it as a main meal or it can just be a side. It keeps well in the fridge so you can make a big batch and then eat it up over the next few days.
It's a vegan salad as well and it's always healthy to eat more plant based meals.
The most important thing is that it is healthy and healthy is exactly what I'm looking for right now. I adapted it from A Salad for All Seasons by Harry Eastwood
Ingredients for wild rice and pea salad
To make this salad you'll need:
- Rice - I used a mixture of Red Camargue and Wild Rice
- Cardamom pods
- Bay leaves
- Pine nuts
- Ground spices - allspice, coriander, cumin
- Red onion - You can use brown onions but I like the colour that red adds.
- Carrot
- Frozen peas - Or fresh ones if you are lucky enough to have them!
- Fresh parsley - Coriander is also delicious on this salad.
- Lemon
How can you adapt this salad?
It's an easy salad to adapt. You could use any long grain rice. I've made this with red camargue rice and also with a mixture of wild rice and basmati rice. You can also use other whole grains. For example spelt, farro, freekeh or barley would all be lovely.
You can also mix up the vegetables you add. Diced peppers could replace the carrot. Some diced tomatoes would be great too.
If you don't have pine nuts then replace them with a different seed or nut. Sunflower or pumpkin seeds could be used instead.
I always think a few spices and fresh herbs do so much to add flavour to a dish and although you could use dried herbs instead, the fresh parsley goes really well. Coriander would also be lovely, as would mint.
Special diets
I didn't consciously intend this salad to be suitable for any special diets but as it's meat-free, it's a great salad for anyone on a vegan, vegetarian or dairy free diet. It's also gluten free.
Can you prepare it in advance?
Like many people, I need to try and save time in the kitchen and this is a perfect meal prep recipe. Once prepared, it keeps well in the fridge for at least three days.
If you're looking for more ideas for meals that are great eaten as leftovers then do take a look at my Cook Once Eat Twice post.
More filling salad recipes
I love salads that really fill you up and I have a whole recipe collection for main meal salads. Do check it out as well as some of these recipes:
Recipe
Spiced Wild Rice and Pea Salad
Ingredients
- 250 g wild rice
- 3 cardamom pods
- 2 bay leaves
- 50 g pine nuts
- 1 large carrot finely diced
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 250 g frozen peas
- Handful of fresh parsley
- 1 red onion finely diced
- Juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
- Cook the rice by boiling it for about 15 minutes with the cardamom pods and bay leaves.
- Put the pine nuts in a dry frying pan and toast them gently until they are golden. Set them aside.
- Put a little oil in the frying pan, cook the carrots gently for about 5 minutes then stir in the ground spices
- Add the peas to the rice a couple of minutes before the rice has finished cooking then drain the rice and put it in the pan with the carrots. Stir the carrot and spices into the rice
- Chop the parsley and finely dice the red onion. Stir them into the rice too.
- Squeeze over the lemon juice and add a little extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle the pine nuts over the top when serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Pin for later
Nic | Nic's Adventures & Bakes
Thanks for sharing, this rice salad looks lovely 🙂
Corina Blum
Thanks Nic! I'm so pleased you like this.
Strength and Sunshine
Delicious spices and wild rice is a staple in my pantry!
Sonali- The Foodie Physician
I love all of the beautiful flavors you have going on in this salad! I'm also all about the #cookonceeatwice philosophy 🙂
Corina
Thank you!
Lisa
I enjoy salads anytime of year. And I like that you can add whatever you might like. Thanks for sharing with NCR.
Corina
You're welcome! I eat a lot more salads than I used to as they are easy to prepare in advance and I often don't have much time at mealtimes.
hijackedbytwins
Oh wow Corina, this sounds like a meal which I would love! I love all the ingredients and it looks so tasty x #CookOnceEatTwice
Corina
Thank you so much!
Martin @ The Why Chef
Little chance of me getting close to a vegan January, but being healthier is definitely on the cards. Salads are so much better when you can have them hot, so I'm certainly giving this a try. Cheers!
Corina
I wouldn't manage a whole vegan January either! I love vegan meals like this though and I hope you enjoy it.
Eb Gargano
Yum, this looks delicious. I am a big fan of warm winter salads...I've gone a bit mad for them on my blog lately! I am not doing Veganuary either but I am trying to include more vegan/plant based meals in my diet in a bid to be more healthy in 2016! I would struggle to go vegan as I love cheese too much 🙂 My Mum has A Salad for All Seasons and I enjoyed reading it last time I visited...it's so inspiring isn't it? And the photos are gorgeous!! Eb x
Corina
It's one of my favourite books to flick through. I love the range of different salads too! Warm salads are definitely a great choice for winter as well.
karen278
FABULOUS herb and citrus recipe - thanks so much for adding it to Cooking with Herbs! Karen
Charlotte Oates
I'm not doing Veganuary as I alway thought it would be too difficult, but seeing the amazing range of recipes that people are sharing at the moment I'm starting to change my mind (although I think I'd miss my morning cuppa a bit too much!). This salad sounds delicious, I agree that salads in winter don't always go but I'd be more than happy to eat this one up.
Thanks for sharing x
Corina
Thank you! Like you, I'd find it difficult to go vegan completely for a month but I am also seeing so many great recipes I'd love to make which are actually vegan. I have realised though that often I do make vegan meals I just don't think of them as vegan.