Now that we're past Easter and well into Spring, I've been looking through my recipe book because we are hosting a few parties in the coming months. A complete blast from the past fell out and got me thinking it's something that should come out of the archives. I remember clearly during family gatherings hosted by my parents or my grandparents we often would have a cold rice salad. Back then I was never a fan. The idea of cold rice mixed with raw vegetables was less than appealing to me. All these years later and with a palette (somewhat) more refined this actually sounds pretty good and a perfect side for the warmer months. I think I'll give it a try. I think it could even be jazzed up with some "hipper" ingredients like chickpeas or avocado and maybe some toasted pine nuts. You could also omit the mayo to make it a bit healthier. I love any good mayo based salad so mine will be rife with Hellman's. I did a little Googling before writing this to see if I could find the origin of this recipe (pictured here in my grandmother's handwriting). The first thing that came up was a Curried Rice Salad from Rice-A-Roni's website. Who knows if that's where she found it but I'm excited to relive some culinary memories and to add an old family standby to the meal rotation.
Rice Salad
2 packages chicken flavored rice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 Six ounce jars marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
2/3 cup mayonnaise
16 pimiento stuffed olives, sliced
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
8 green onions, chopped
Directions:
- Cook rice as directed on package omitting butter.
- Reserve marinade from artichoke hearts before chopping. Mix with mayonnaise and curry powder.
- Mix rice and all chopped vegetables and then combine with mayonnaise mixture.
- Cover and chill one hour before serving.
- Enjoy!