Festive Rice Salad w/ Pomegranate & Mint

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves 6+ as a side

• 1½ cups short grain rice
• ½ cup dry roasted pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
• ¼ cup dates, chopped
• 100g vegetarian feta cheese, crumbled (optional)
• ½ pomegranate, seeds & juice
• 1 lemon, juice & zest
• 3 tbs good quality olive oil
• ½ tsp honey (or agave nectar)
• bunch of fresh mint leaves, roughly torn
• 1 tsp sumac

Cook the rice using your preferred method until al dente. Drain, rinse and set aside to cool (if serving the salad warm simply continue without allowing the rice to cool).

Whisk the lemon juice, olive oil and honey or agave nectar together with a pinch of salt flakes & ground black pepper.

Transfer the rice to a large bowl, add the pistachio nuts, dates, feta (if using), lemon zest and toss to combine well with the dressing of lemon juice, olive oil and honey.

Scatter over the pomegranate seeds, a squeeze of pomegranate juice and the mint leaves, toss lightly and then dust with the sumac and a few extra mint leaves before serving.

All the ingredients can be prepared ahead of time, simply toss together before serving to keep the nuts crunchy and mint leaves fresh.