Posted by Loulou on Aug 4, 2015 | 4 comments

Hey, they all look happy enough, no? And fed (note: empty plates)

Well, I’ve been thinking. Having guests is really fun but there is always the food to think of and when several are vegetarians, madame chef has to consider all the possibilites.

It’s quite challenging, actually, as in curry night, which was very successful and covered all the bets, ending up with a Catalan fruit plate of pineapple (there’s a guy in the market with a machine that peels an cubes fresh pineapples—mama LOVES that because I have noticed that she always leaves a few “eyes” in her cut-up pinapple and they get in my fangs)—and watermelon, red and yellow. A patriotic dessert if there ever was one!

So after having made the black-eyed pea masala, lobia, they are called in India, there was just enough left to throw into a rice salad and I’ll bet you’re wondering why we had leftover rice, right? Because papa came in the kitchen during the cooking process and in his inimitable way of checking on the quantity (it’s not serious, just a little way of being in the kitchen with mama), mama threw in another half a bag of basmati rice, just to be sure after having thought about the amount of pasta that only ONE grandkid ate the day before (1/2 POUND) even though he is very tall and thin as a rail.

So here we are, mama and I, putting together the following with the (fortunately) leftover rice and black-eyed peas. This is especially good with half a ripe avocado.  I tasted it and almost liked it myself…

Un, oh, that’s a half a lemon tart that got in there somehow…DON’T put that in the salad, okay?

Mama’s Rice Salad

3 cups cooked basmati rice (or any rice you love)

1 cup cooked black-eyed peas or black beans or garbanzos

(Optional: 1 cup of tiny cooked shrimp or cooked crabmeat)

To chop:

1 small cucumber

1 small sweet onion

1 small red pepper, grilled and peeled

6 cornichons

1 clove garlic

Small bunch of cilantro

Small bunch of chives

Small bunch of mint

A small handful of grilled almonds

A few basil leaves

Dressing:

4 tablespoons sesame oil

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons wine vinegar

Juice of half a lemon or lime

Salt and pepper

In a large salad bowl, put the rice and black-eyed peas or beans.  In the bowl of a food processor, put the rest of the ingredients to chop, small, but not fine. Add to the salad bowl and mix well with the dressing, adding more of anything you think it needs. A spoon of mayonnaise, for example, changes the salad, but it is very good in the dressing if you are using shrimp or crab.

Mama says that mistakes in the kitchen are the best things that can happen for a cook’s creativity.

Personally, I’m taking out the shrimp and leaving the rest to the hordes.

Mama uses a squeeze of lemon juice in almost everything that needs an acid balance.