Grilled Summer Vegetable Salad With Jasmine Rice Recipe

While salads and side dishes are always a must-have for any proper summer spread or barbecue, they can sometimes end up being a little dull and uninspiring. The grilled meat often takes center stage and salads can be overlooked — but they need not be bland and lifeless. In fact, we wholeheartedly think that they should be just as exciting and flavorful as their protein counterparts, and this grilled summer vegetable salad with jasmine rice, created by recipe developer Jennine Rye, is just that.

Freshly grilled vegetables flavored with herbs and spices are tossed with fluffy sweet rice and then finished off with salty rich feta, juicy pomegranate seeds, peppery arugula, and the herby freshness of basil and mint. Packed full of fresh flavors, this salad is the perfect accompaniment to a wide variety of dishes. It also makes a wonderful, hearty offering for any vegetarians, who often similarly get overlooked at a cookout. And, as this dish can be prepared using a grill or a griddle pan, it can be enjoyed year-round. Read on to find out how you can make this flavorful rice and veggie salad.

To make this grilled summer vegetable salad with jasmine rice recipe, first, you will want to gather the ingredients. For the grilled vegetables, you will need a sweet potato, red onions, bell peppers, eggplant, olive oil, garlic, dried oregano, paprika, cumin, and salt and pepper. To finish off the recipe you will also want jasmine rice, basil, mint, arugula leaves, feta cheese, and pomegranate seeds.

If you have any other vegetables lying around that can be grilled, such as mushrooms or zucchini, this recipe is a great and delicious way to use them up.

To begin this recipe, start by chopping up the vegetables into bite-sized chunks. Peel the sweet potato and then chop it into wedges. Set everything to one side.

While grilled fresh vegetables are delicious on their own, to give this rice salad even more flavor, Rye has created an easy marinade. This is a simple, but really effective step to take your grilled vegetables from good to mouthwatering. To make the marinade, just mix together the olive oil with the garlic, oregano, paprika, cumin, and salt and pepper, to taste.

The easiest way to grill the chopped vegetables is by putting them onto skewers. This allows you to simply turn the skewers on the grill or in a griddle pan. If using a grill, the vegetables won't be at risk of falling through the wire rack. Using metal or bamboo skewers, skewer the red onion, bell peppers, and eggplant chunks, leaving the sweet potatoes out for now. Then, using a pastry brush, liberally brush the skewers with the flavorful marinade. Once the skewered veggies are well coated, add the sweet potato wedges to the remaining mixture and make sure they are also thoroughly covered in the oil and spices.

Heat up your grill or stove to medium-high heat before adding the vegetables. If you are using a griddle pan, you may need to do this step in a few stages, however, if you are using a grill you will likely be able to cook everything at once. Turn the vegetables on the skewers every few minutes so they pick up a delicious char. Remove them from the heat once the eggplant looks to be cooked through. It is ok if the red pepper and the red onions retain a little bite, it adds a lovely texture to the final dish. 

The sweet potatoes — which can be cooked separately — will take a little longer to cook than the other vegetables. They are ready when they are fork-tender.

The other main component of this dish is the rice, so while the vegetables are grilling, it is the perfect time to also get the rice cooking. 

This recipe uses jasmine rice which is a fluffy and light rice with a subtle sweetness to it — perfect for a salad. To cook this, simply boil it in water on the stove until tender. Or, if you have a rice cooker, you can feel free to use that.

The final step in this recipe is to assemble the salad. First, remove the skewers from the grilled vegetables and gather all the components of the dish together: the rice, the veggies, the mint and basil, the arugula, crumbled feta, and pomegranate seeds. Transfer the warm rice and grilled vegetables to a large bowl or serving platter and gently mix them together with a spoon or salad servers. Then, mix in the chopped herbs and arugula, and top with the crumbled feta and pomegranate seeds.

This dish can be enjoyed warm or cold, and makes an excellent offering alongside other grilled meats and barbecue offerings. Any leftovers should be stored in the fridge and should be consumed within 3 to 4 days; contrary to popular belief it is not dangerous to consume leftover rice as long as it is stored properly.