Brown Rice Salad with Leftover Turkey, Red Cabbage, and Pecans

Categories: Brown Rice, Healthy, November2012, Red Cabbage, Salads, Turkey

Ingredients

• 4 cups cooked long grain brown rice (see recipe notes, do not use instant rice)
• 3 cups diced leftover turkey
• 1 cup sliced green onions
• 1 1/2 cups finely diced celery
• 3 cup finely chopped red cabbage (about 1/2 head of cabbage)
• 1 cup chopped pecans (or more, use any nuts of your choice)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley (cilantro would be good in this, but I didn't have any)
• Dressing Ingredients:
• 5 T olive oil
• 3 T rice vinegar (not seasoned)
• 3 T soy sauce
• 2 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 2 T agave nectar or honey (use agave nectar for South Beach Diet)
• 1 T ginger puree (from a jar) or 3/4 T finely grated fresh ginger
• 1 tsp. Spike seasoning (optional, but recommended)
• 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
• pinch cayenne pepper or dash of hot sauce

Directions

1. At least 2 hours before you want to serve salad, cook brown rice and cool in refrigerator. (I cooked 1 cup Uncle Ben’s whole grain brown rice in a rice cooker, which made 4 cups cooked rice. You could use brown basmati rice, but do not use short grain or instant brown rice.)

2. Put dressing ingredients in small glass jar or plastic container with a tight-fitting lid. Shake well to combine ingredients and let flavors blend while you prep other salad ingredients.

3. Chop turkey, green onion, celery, red cabbage, pecans, and parsley or cilantro and put in large mixing bowl. Add cooled brown rice and gently stir to combine ingredients. Pour over about 3/4 of the dressing and mix until salad is well coated with dressing. (You probably won’t need all the dressing, but save it to refresh the flavor of any leftover salad which has been in the fridge.) Serve immediately. The salad will keep in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight, but after that the cabbage will lose it’s crunch.

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