Mango and Rice Salad

I love, love this salad. I utilized our favorite fruit in the house-mangoes. I make everything with this delicious fruit- entrees, appetizers, salads and dessert, oh, and some delicious drinks as well. I needed to serve a side dish with the shrimp curry I posted yesterday. I wanted to make some kind of a starch and also vegetables. I decided to make a rice salad (never made one before) and use mangoes, red peppers, green onions, cilantro and mint. How can you go wrong with all those delicious ingredients??

I made a fabulous dressing consisting of rice vinegar, honey and olive oil. It is amazing to me how just the right ingredients can make such a big difference in a dish. The tangy dressing made the rice salad absolutely delicious and it went perfectly with the shrimp curry.  We ate the rice salad a few days even after the curry was finished. It tasted better the next day.

This salad will be perfect with any grilled entree like hamburgers, hot dogs or even steak.  This will be a staple in our house for the summer.

• 1 cup basmati rice
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon extra olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt

Bring the chicken broth, oil and salt to a boil. Add the rice and cook on medium heat till holes begin to appear on top- about 5 minutes. Put the lid on and lower the heat and cook for 15 minutes. Take out of the pan and cool the rice on a platter. Keep aside.

• 1 cup fresh mango, cut into small pieces
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1 red pepper, cut into small pieces
• ¼ cup fresh mint, chopped
• ½ cup fresh cilantro

Add the mango, green onions, red pepper, mint and cilantro in a medium bowl. Add the cooled rice and mix well.

Dressing

• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 2 tablespoons extra light olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Add the rice vinegar and honey in a small bowl. Whisk the oil in till the dressing is emulsified. Add the salt and mix well. Add the dressing into the rice mixture, mix well and let sit for half an hour before serving.