Rice Salad A Welcome Option For Picnics

The picnic season has begun and you’ve probably already prepared, or at least consumed, the first potato or pasta salads of the summer.

But there’s another option that’ll be welcomed by picnickers who are bored with passe pasta salads and by cooks who are tired of all the labor that goes into making potato salads.

Rice salads can be put together in half the time of potato salads, and they’re even more versatile than pasta salads. After all, have you ever seen a pasta salad for dessert?

Another rice salad advantage:

Heat won’t wilt it like a tossed green salad. It definitely makes the decision about which picnic salad to prepare more of a toss-up.

“I don’t know why more people don’t think of making rice salads. They order fried rice in Chinese restaurants, down red beans and rice in Mexican restaurants and even eat rice in many of the new ‘wrap’ sandwiches,” said Kim Park, spokesperson for the Houston-based USA Rice Council.

“At home, it’s not unusual for cooks to toss rice into a soup or serve meats and vegetables on a bed of rice. And rice pudding has to be one of the most popular desserts.”

Rice is an excellent flavor carrier, Park said. “It works in all kinds of ethnic salads as well as in fruit salads. And it’s good in either hot or cold salads.”

Rice works well with ingredients that range from feta cheese and black olives to snow peas and cucumbers. And dressing the salad can be as easy as opening a bottle of your favorite commercial salad dressing.

Gourmet groceries have grasped the idea, according to Park, who reports seeing a variety of rice salads in deli departments. “I’ve seen long-grain and medium-grain rice salads. I’ve also seen brown rice salads,” she said.

But when Park takes a rice salad to a picnic, people still are surprised by the idea, she said.

Rice salads are ideal entrees or side dishes for summer cooks. They require far less kitchen time than potato salads. “When you’re making potato salad, the potatoes generally have to be scrubbed, peeled, and then diced or sliced before going into a salad. Rice, on the other hand, can be put in a pot or popped into the microwave with liquid and seasonings and practically be ignored until it’s cooked and ready for use in a salad.

“When I’m making my favorite rice salad, I can have all the other ingredients diced or chopped and mixed by the time the rice is cooked,” said Park. To make her favorite rice salad, she opens and rinses a can of black beans and also chops four green onions, half a red and half a green bell pepper as well as one-third of a cup of cilantro. To make the dressing, she whisks together one-third of a cup of peanut oil and the juice of two limes.

According to Park, anyone who can cook rice can cook it for a salad. No special tricks or techniques are required. For that matter, rice doesn’t even have to be cooked specially for a salad. “Leftover rice is just fine,” said Park.

But if a person is preparing a salad for a special picnic, he or she can match the rice with the salad’s style.

“If you want a salad to have a creamy texture, use a medium-grain rice. If you want the rice to be more separate, select a long-grain rice,” Park suggested.

And if the family doesn’t have a taste for high culinary adventure, Park said, “You can make a rice salad that tastes like a potato salad. Use all the traditional ingredients, like celery, pickles, mayonnaise and chopped egg. Just use cooked rice instead of the potatoes.”