Avocado and brown rice salad recipe

When you're trying to eat well it's not always easy to come up with varied and exciting ideas, and sometimes it can feel like it is salads on the menu and nothing else. Of course, bowls of salad leaves and cold vegetables aren't always the most fun or the most filling. But add one simple ingredient and you've transformed the whole dish. A bit of rice will change a boring bowl of green into a rice salad.

Rice salads are great to eat if you're trying to be healthy, as you're still getting all of the nutrition from the salad ingredients, but the rice adds a bit more substance to the bowl so that you're not craving a sugar hit afterwards. And if you use brown rice that's a bonus, as it's wholegrain so is digested more easily and will fill you up without leaving you bloated.

This tasty rice salad uses garlic, spring onions, balsamic vinegar and dried chilli flakes to add a mix of strong flavours to the dish. The addition of cherry tomatoes brings in freshness and crunch and the avocado adds a bit of creaminess to the healthy rice salad bowl.

Feel free to add in any other salad ingredients you love - cucumber, peppers, beetroot, capers. Yum!

Ingredients

• 175g easy-cook brown rice
• 6 spring onions, finely sliced
• 2 ripe Hass avocado (remove skin and stone, and dice flesh)
• 1 small clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp hemp seed oil (eg Good Oil)
• 150g cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• Pinch of dried chilli flakes

Method

1. Cook the rice according to the packet instructions. Once the rice is cooked, drain well and allow to cool.
2. To make the dressing: combine the oil, vinegar and garlic.
3. Transfer the rice to a serving bowl, stir in the avocado, spring onions, tomatoes, chilli flakes and dressing and serve immediately.