April 18, 2023

Blast from the Past: Rice Salad

Blast from the Past: Rice Salad

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:

  1. Cook rice as directed on package omitting butter.  
  2. Reserve marinade from artichoke hearts before chopping.  Mix with mayonnaise and curry powder.  
  3. Mix rice and all chopped vegetables and then combine with mayonnaise mixture.  
  4. Cover and chill one hour before serving.
  5. Enjoy!