Cucumber, Kiwi and Feta Salad

Are you looking for the taste of spring-time because, you have just found it in this gorgeous salad!

Fresh and refreshing with the saltiness of feta and the fruitiness of kiwi, this salad makes a great simple lunch or refreshing side salad.

I make this salad ‘up-side-down’, pulling out one of my favourite serving bowls and beginning the recipe by whisking together the dressing ingredients.
With only a little work, the dressing will come together or emulsify into a thin, sweet and nutty, cream in the bowl.

In this way I can speed up the time it takes to get this salad on the table and reduce the washing up.
What’s not to like about that?
Once the dressing is made and sat patiently in the serving bowl, it is just a case of roughly chopping the vegetables, herbs and fruit and piling them on top.

This is where the recipe courts controversy, as I argue that you do not need to peel your kiwi fruit!
We eat peaches all summer long with their fuzzy skins and in reality there is no reason why we can’t eat kiwi fruit the same way…so, if you are short on time, for sure, just chop that fruit and throw it into the bowl.
Once you have all of the ingredients assembled, it is just a case getting your hands dirty and gently combining all of the ingredients together making sure to pull the dressing up from the bottom of the bowl.
Don’t you just love to play with your food?

Expect to get compliments for this crisp, sweet and savoury salad…and know that you can set aside a serving of this deliciousness to refrigerate for 24hrs and enjoy as your own special lunch tomorrow.
This is easy to prepare, nutrient dense REAL FOOD in a bowl and beats any mushy, shop-bought, bagged salad into a cocked hat!

Ingredients

4 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp tahini

1 clove garlic crushed

1 lemon juiced

A pinch of salt and pepper to taste…I always love a lot of pepper!

2 lb baby or English cucumber halved and diced

4-6 kiwi fruit peeled, or not, halved and sliced

11/2 cups or 200g feta cheese cubes

1 small red onion finely sliced

A big handful of mint. (I used a 28g packet) finely chopped

1/2 pomegranate seeds removed (optional)

Instructions

Add all of the ingredients from the olive oil to the lemon juice into a large bowl and whisk until combined to a creamy dressing.
Add the diced cucumber, the halved and sliced kiwi fruits, cheese, red onion, mint and pomegranate seeds.
Using your hands combine all of the ingredients into the dressing.
Additional ingredients to consider include, drained canned chickpeas, cubed cooked beetroot, Puy lentils.

If you enjoy this deliciously fresh salad you might enjoy the gingery Asian inspired flavours of my more substantial Asian Style Brown Rice Salad. The two together on a summer buffet table would be perfect!

Asian Style Brown Rice Salad

The holiday season is a time for gathering, sharing and celebrating.

We get together as families and friend groups at the darkest time of the year to feast on the fat of the year, celebrate our spirituality and to give to others. It can be a magical time of the year.

We can also enter the New Year feeling pounds heavier and as if we have not moved off the sofa for weeks on end. The holiday party and celebration season can cause us to feel as if our boundaries are being broken by an avalanche of sugar cookies and our highest goals for our very best health are thrown in the trash with the wrapping paper!

It is always helpful to enter into the party season with a strategy. The strategy I love most is not of going without, diet or restriction but of sharing and giving and the gifting of foods and recipes that help to shore up my health goals and which can create a balanced choice on even the most sugar laden buffet table.

I have been making this Asian Style Brown Rice Salad for decades a recipe which came out of a small book produced by Sainsburys supermarket in the UK in the early 80’s. It is a recipe that was ahead of its time

I have shared this recipe more than any other I routinely make; emailed after a gorgeous event, on the back of an envelope or hurriedly scrawled on a scrap of paper at a party. I can make this salad off by heart!

Brown rice is full of fibre to help us feel satiated and to feed all of the healthy gut bugs in our microbiome who help us to feel energized, happy and lean. You can read more about the role of the microbiome in helping us to release weight here.
Packed with nutrition, the B-vitamin-group-rich wholegrain rice is studded with nuts and seeds making this salad dense in minerals.
I made the salad in the photo with both wholegrain and black rice to up the antioxidant content of the grain and give celebratory visual impact!
The pumpkin seeds provide zinc to boost immunity, support healthy tissues and provide nutrition to the thyroid gland, whilst cashews are rich in our relaxation mineral magnesium and contain heart healthy omega 3 fatty acids.
Vitamin C for immunity is often on our minds in the Winter months for its role in boosting immunity. This salad packs a punch of vitamin C in the chopped red pepper and big handful of chopped parsley; such a gorgeous cleansing and iron rich herb.

Dried cranberries or raisins make this salad festive but it is the garlic and ginger rich dressing that make this bowlful of goodness so special. Adding the dressing whilst the rice is warm ensures that every bit has a spicy gingery/salty warmth to it. Delicious!

Make it, share with others and consider going to the party with the recipe in your pocket on a scrap of paper, because people are going to be looking for the deets from you!

Asian Style Brown Rice Salad

Serves 8

Ingredients

                     For the Salad

                     2 cups brown basmati rice cooked (this takes 35-40 minutes in my rice cooker)

                    4 green onions chopped finely

                     1 large red pepper diced

                     1/2 cup raisins or cranberries

                     1/2 cup raw cashews

1 bunch parsley or cilantro finely chopped

                     For the Dressing

                     4tbsp extra virgin olive oil

                     11/2 tbsp tamari soya sauce

                     1/2 lemon juiced

                     2 cloves garlic crushed

                     2 cm fresh ginger grated

Instructions

  Cook the rice to the instructions on the packet. I like to use my rice cooker.

  Meanwhile chop the vegetables and herbs and add them to the nuts and raisins in a large bowl

Make the dressing in an old jam jar and shake thoroughly

When rice is cooked add to the other ingredients and pour over the dressing while warm. Mix thoroughly with your hands or a large spoon.

Consider making double quantities of the dressing to use later on grated carrot or zucchini or lettuce salad during the week. This salad should keep for a week in refrigerator.