Sometimes it’s hard to get the family on board when it comes to salads but when you load them up with a variety of cooked and raw vegetables, spices, flavour, protein and carbs they become an exciting meal that everyone will actually want to eat.

The leftovers are perfect for kids lunchboxes the next day too.

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration take a look at my ebook, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes.

It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved and take the guess work out of what delicious, healthy food to make your kids for lunch!

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Basmati Rice
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Ground Cumin
Turmeric
Coriander
Onion Powder
Chilli Flakes
Chickpeas
Sea salt
Cracked Black Pepper

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Spiced Cauliflower and Chickpea Rice Salad

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 1 cup basmati rice
• 1/2 medium cauliflower
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp each ground cumin, turmeric, coriander, onion powder (onion powder optional)
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 red capsicum, sliced
• 1 tin chick peas, rinsed well
• 1 block Greek or Danish feta, cubed
• handful olives
• 2 large mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 2 handfuls baby spinach

Dressing

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp mustard
• pinch sea salt and cracked black pepper

Instructions

• Heat the oven to 180 C and prepare a large tray with baking paper.
• Cut the cauliflower into small florets and place in a medium bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, add all the spice, stir well and place on the large tray to one side.
• Put the sliced onion, capsicum and garlic into the bowl, drizzle with olive oil, stir, then place on same tray as the cauliflower and pop into the oven for 10 minutes. Check and put back into the oven for another 10 minutes.
• While vegetables are cooking in the oven, cook the rice as per packet instructions.
• Once rice and vegetables are cooked add them to a large salad bowl and mix together.
• Stir through the chickpeas, mushrooms, olives, baby spinach and finally gently toss through the feta.
• Mix together the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad and serve.

Notes

This salad can be served warm or cold and is great for lunchboxes. 

If you make this recipe and share on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek.

Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook.

Other rice based dinner recipes you might like are Easy Paella, Middle Eastern Spiced Chickpea Rice and Garlic Prawns and Coconut Rice.

This recipe is not only lip smacking tasty, but it’s versatile enough to prepare for a family lunch, dinner, bbq or I used to roll it out when I ran my kids cooking classes, where even I was taken aback by the kids raving about how gorgeous the beans were ‘done this way’. One little girl looked at me accusingly and said suspiciously, “I don’t know how you’ve done it, but you’ve got me eating and liking broccoli.”So cute! Happy days!

I have to admit, we rarely eat tofu. I’m not a massive fan of it from a health perspective, but every now and then I like to change things up, so we went for an organic tofu (meaning not-GM). Tempeh would be a better choice,  as the process of fermenting reduces the anti-nutrients and creates a natural probiotic food. Using prawns is definitely my favourite!

But really, you can leave it out if you so desire, increase the seeds, add some cashews, or whatever you favourite protein may be.

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Udon noodles
Salt
Sunflower seeds/pumpkin seeds/sesame seeds
Coconut or rapadura sugar
Olive oil
Apple cider vinegar
Tamari sauce
Sesame oil

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Asian-Style Vegetable and Noodle Salad

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• Noodle Salad
• 300 g broccoli cut into small florets
• 150 g green beans halved
• 270 g organic udon noodles or kelp noodles if gluten free
• Coconut oil
• 1 medium onion sliced
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon ginger grated
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1 cake firm organic tofu sliced thickly (or fried tempeh, seared sliced beef, sliced chicken or pork)
• 1/4 cup sunflower/ pumpkin seeds/sesame seeds I used a mix
• Optional: seeds can be dry roasted on frying pan to create a depth of flavour
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• Lemon or lime wedges for serving
• Dressing
• 1 teaspoon coconut or rapadura sugar dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 35 ml apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon tamari sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Instructions

• For noodle salad, boil a saucepan of water and blanche vegetables for 2 minutes. Drain, and run under cold water to stop the cooking process. Set aside.
• Cook noodles according to packet in same water (full of alkaline goodness left from the veggies, strain and leave to cool.
• In a frypan, sauté the onion in a little coconut oil for a few minutes, add garlic, ginger and salt and continue cooking until onion is soft. Pour mixture into a bowl. Add more coconut oil to the frying pan and fry tofu, beef, chicken, pork or prawns until cooked
• For the dressing, In a jar combine all the dressing ingredients and shake well. Taste for seasoning.
• In a large bowl combine all the components and toss with dressing (use as much or as little dressing as you prefer) and serve with lemon or lime wedges.

If you make this please take photos and send them to me, or if you share them on instagram remember to tag me.

Other recipes you might like are Spicy Pork and Vegetable Nasi Goreng and Homemade Miso Ramen. 

Enjoy!

Brenda x