This time of year always seems busy with lots of functions and get-togethers to attend. To avoid leaving all the food preparation to one person, often times in Australia we are asked to “bring a plate” to such gatherings. Most Aussies have no difficulty understanding the intention of the request to bring an item of food to add to the meal.
However the request can be a little confusing for newcomers to Australia as testified by my Canadian friend Robin who found the request to bring an empty plate to eat from a little strange. I’ve also had a discussion recently with my online friend Charli Mills of the Carrot Ranch about the American tradition of “pot luck” which seems to imply a similar request.
Along with an invitation to a “bring a plate” get-together, I am usually requested to contribute a rice salad to the main meal, or a pavlova for dessert, or sometimes both! I am always happy to oblige as both of these dishes are not only very popular, they are also very easy to make. In this post I am sharing my favourite rice salad recipe.
In a previous post I made some suggestions for involving children in Learning in the kitchen. While for safety reasons children may not be able to actively participate in the preparation of the rice salad due to boiling water and the use of sharp knives, there is still much for them to learn through collecting and measuring the ingredients, and observing and discussing what the adult is doing in each step of the preparation.
If you are looking for a quick, nutritious and delicious salad to accompany a main meal at home or away, this rice salad recipe might be just the thing.
I hope you enjoy it as much my family, friends and I do!
Thank you for reading.
I value your feedback. Please share your thoughts about any aspect of this post.
Norah Colvin 
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I’m a bit late to this one (lucky the food is only virtual otherwise I would be VERY disappointed I had missed out!), but can attest to the deliciousness of both the rice salad and the pavlova. It wouldn’t be a celebration without one of Norah’s pavs (or strawberry torte or mango cream tart)!
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Thanks Bec. You couldn’t possibly miss out! 🙂
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Okay, now this is my kind of “cooking”. No stove. 😉 This looks delicious. I’m going to try one with all the ingredients and one leaving out the sweet ones.
Bringing food to functions any time of year (but especially the holidays) is very common so I think I’d get the “bring a plate” but, like Anne said, one never knows…
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Thanks Sarah. It will be interesting to know what you think of the different versions of the salad if you make them. Of course you could add whatever ingredients you wish. I sometimes add lentil sprouts, chick peas or sunflower or pumpkin seeds. It all depends on what I have on hand. The cranberries can be a bit sweet, but I particularly like the crunchiness of the apple and it’s sweetness combines well with the tartness of the curry dressing. The original salad I based this one on included a 400 g can of tuna which made it quite a good meal in itself. However the tuna is no longer appropriate for my vegetarian family members so I omit it. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! 🙂
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Oooh! I love chickpeas. I’m adding those. Also, the tuna. So simple but I really like tuna in dishes like this. Like you said, it transforms a side dish into a meal.
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I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
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I hadn’t come across that expression before, but I think I might guess what it meant. On the other hand, if I were to host a big party (heaven forbid) I might need to borrow extra plates, so can see the potential for confusion.
Hope you made double quantities of your salad for all your Christmas socialising. I do cook with brown rice will haven’t seen it before in a salad, so perhaps want to try.
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Hi Anne, I agree! There is always room for confusion in many of these sayings we have! I wonder how those speaking English as a second language ever figure out what some sayings mean. It must be so confusing, it is difficult enough for English as a first language users!
As well as being more nutritious, the brown rice has a nuttier favour and a firmer texture in the salad I think. Please let me know what you think if you do try it. 🙂
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Wonderful recipe Norah, yummy, your rice salad is the perfect contribution for ‘bring a plate’. I’m going to have to write it down 😉 Thank you too for the explanation, I’ve never heard of that, and I also didn’t understand what ‘pot luck’ meant when I first moved to America 🙂 I soon did though, and I discovered that people liked my English sausage rolls 🙂 I’m signing off today Norah with a short post, you’ll finally get to see that pic of the Christmas tree I’ve been promising you, but meanwhile, may I wish you and your family a very Happy Christmas and New Year. See you in 2015 🙂
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Thank you Sherri. I’ve enjoyed our conversations this year and I look forward to seeing the pic of your Christmas tree. I’ll be popping over very soon to check it out! 🙂 I like the sound of your English sausage rolls and can imagine just how popular they would be! That’s a recipe I’d be happy to receive in exchange! 🙂
Thank you for your Christmas and New Year wishes. I warmly return them to you and your family, and look forward to linking up again in 2015! 🙂
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Ahh…and yes, I loved your comments over there and likewise, it’s so lovely chatting with you! So far as the sausage rolls, just add a chopped onion and some chopped sage leaves (about 4 tablespoons) to 450g pork sausagemeat, roll out with a little flour to keep it from sticking into two, long rolls and place in your shortcrust pastry (I cheated this year and brought ready-made!). Seal over the edges, brush with some beaten egg, cut into individual roll size, and cook for about 20 – 25 minutes in a hot oven, 220 C or gas mark 7. Voila, that’s it, I hope you enjoy! See you soon Norah and once again, a very Happy Christmas and New Year to you and yours 🙂
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They sound delicious. There’s nothing wrong with taking a shortcut. I wonder how else we would survive sometimes! Those hunters and gatherers of ‘romantic’ times past had time for none of the other things we ‘must’ do! I hope you find time to rest and relax.
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Sitting on a train to a meeting reading this. Cruel, Norah, so cruel! Looks brill. How do you do the images? Adding the captions? I like to post some recipes and to steal your ideas would be great (if allowed)
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Thanks for your enthusiasm re the presentation, Geoff. The images and captions are quite easy in PowerPoint. Are you a PowerPoint user? I could do a post of instructions. How would that be?
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I do use power point but I’ve not done anything like that; a post would be very useful
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I shall see what I can do. May take a week or two. It will inspire a bit more learning on my part. Thanks for the challenge. 🙂
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Likewise, I’d never considered PowerPoint for blog posts, would be interested in learning more.
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I’ll see what I can do! 🙂
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Thanks Norah, that salad looks absolutely delicious! I will try it out over the break:-)
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Thanks for visiting and commenting, Annie. It’s lovely to have you along to share my journey. 🙂 If you do try the salad, please let me know what response you get!
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Norah, this salad sounds scrumptious! Your presentation is truly impressive 🙂 And I see that what you call a capsicum, we call a pepper 🙂
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Hi Donna Marie, My family all agree that it is a scrumptious salad. I’m pleased you liked the presentation of the recipe. The variation in names of fruits and vegetables, as well as practices such as ‘bring a plate’, between different countries is interesting, isn’t it? It can be confusing too if you don’t know what an ingredient is. That’s where the use of photos helps clarification. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
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