As the hot days of summer give way to the crisp days of autumn, I would be remiss at not visiting a warm-weather standard that straddles the bridge between the seasons: curried rice salad.
(READ MORE: Courters’ Kitchen: Dress up your meal with this tasty rice)
Unlike pasta, leftover rice is perfect for recycling in a salad. While pasta often turns gummy and flabby when cold, rice holds its shape, remains firm yet tender, and because its surface starches “set,” the grains don’t clump together but remain distinct and separate if you’ve cooked it correctly in the first place.
Just about anything can go into rice salad, from the usual chopped onion and celery to leftover seafood and chicken. But when the vinaigrette is seasoned with curry spices, and raisins and toasted nuts are added to the mix, it bridges this sometimes difficult transition time between summer and fall. It’s the time of year when it’s still too warm for heftier fare, but just cool enough to tease us with the craving for more autumnal flavors.
(READ MORE: Here’s the secret to the best brown rice)
Oddly enough, while rice has been a Southern staple for more than three centuries, rice salads don’t seem to have carved a place in our food history. They rarely turn up in contemporary cookbooks, and looking through all my family recipes — my father and his father, both born and raised in China were, naturally, huge fans of rice — I don’t seem to find any recipe for rice salads.
My first experience with this curried version — now more than a couple of decades back — was at a late-summer gathering at my house. The recipe that follows is built on the memories of that lazy and comfortable afternoon as a group of us gathered for potluck to celebrate decades of friendship.
Make this a main-course salad by adding shrimp or chicken and a bit more curry powder.
Curried Rice Salad
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
Salt
2 generous teaspoons curry powder
Freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed and peeled but left whole
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups cooked rice, at room temperature
3/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup currants or roughly chopped raisins
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds or pecans
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
Whisk together the vinegar, sugar, a large pinch of salt, curry powder, a light grinding of pepper and the garlic. Slowly whisk in the oil. Let it stand 15 to 30 minutes, taste and adjust the seasonings. Remove and discard the garlic.
Gently toss together the rice, green onion, celery and currants. Fold in the dressing until it is evenly mixed. Chill thoroughly for at least 1 hour; overnight is better. Just before serving, taste and adjust the seasonings, add the nuts and mint, and gently toss to mix. Serve cold.
KIDS EAT FREE
To celebrate the start of the school year, Smokey Bones is offering a Kids Eat Free meal deal. Through Sept. 9, children 10 and younger can order from the kids menu for free with any adult entree order. The offer is good all day every day, dine in only. The kids menu has nine entrees, with options ranging from cheeseburgers and mac and cheese to barbecue ribs and junior sirloins. Chattanooga’s Smokey Bones is at 2225 Gunbarrel Road.
Contact Anne Braly at abraly@timesfreepress.com or annebraly.com.