This is one of my favorites! I first made this as an experiment with my stepmom during my first year of college, and I’ve been making it ever since. offered either hot or cold.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups uncooked brown rice
- 3 cups water
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
- ½ cup raisins
- ¼ sweet onion (such as Vidalia®), chopped
- ¼ cup chopped Kalamata olives
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 ¼ teaspoons Dijon mustard
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- ¼ cup feta cheese
Instructions
- Bring brown rice and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer until rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, 45 to 50 minutes.
- Combine red bell pepper, peas, raisins, onion, and olives in a bowl.
- Whisk vegetable oil, vinegar, and mustard together in a separate bowl for the balsamic dressing.
- Stir brown rice and balsamic dressing into vegetable mixture. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Top brown rice and vegetables with feta cheese before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 451 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 55 g |
| Cholesterol | 9 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 273 mg |
| Sugars | 12 g |
| Fat | 24 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
The ingredients in this recipe are all wonderfully fresh flavors. However, I would recommend being certain the Balsamic vinegar choice be very robust to add the flavor necessary to bring this dish together. Also, I doubled the amount of Dijon mustard. Obviously I am a fan of big, fresh flavor!! Thanks for the recipe!
This is definitely a keeper. Really yummy. Made it just as the recipe instructs.
Added fresh tomatoes and Greek seasoning from Penzeys. Excellent. Easy.
This is really excellent! I made a few changes just based on personal preference. Used roasted red peppers (in a jar) instead of red bell pepper, a blend of white, brown, wild and red rice (1 cup) instead of brown rice, a few more olives, more feta, and craisins (soaked for about 15″ in hot water) instead of raisins. I made the dressing as written, but only used about half of it. It was delicious!
Simple but great. It has become one of my go to dishes.
Such an unusual, interesting side dish, my wife and I both really enjoyed this recipe. We are eating a Mediterranean diet as recommended by my doctor, and this one fit right into such an eating plan. As others have suggested, I substituted Craisins for raisins. My wife is not a fan of either, but the sweetness compliments the savory of the rest of the recipe, and she just avoided the Craisins, so it was all good.
It was delicious! the only change I made was to replace 1/2 of the oil with water, so 1/4 cup oil, 1/4 cup h2o.
Very good healthy side dish. I cut back on oil and used olive oil instead. Add cucumbers. Next time, just use 1 cup rice. Trader joes Mediterranean feta is the best! Didn’t use raisins. Try black beans instead of peas next time?
Love this recipe!!!
This recipe is excellent! I made no changes. It is a tasty healthy meal to pack for lunch.
Quite tasty. I soaked the rice in water for 45 mins and then cooked in a rice cooker. It came out fluffy and soft. Having read other reviews I, too, omitted the peas, cut back on the oil by half and used olive oil instead of vegetable oil. However, unlike everyone who substituted raisins for craisins, I kept the raisins and thought their sweetness balanced out the tartness of the balsamic. I decided to sautee the onions, red peppers, and raisins to soften them up a bit and blend the flavors. My rice didn’t turn a dark brown as described by another reviewer; maybe cause I tossed the rice with the sauteed veggies first, which coated the rice in some oil. I will definitely be making this recipe again.
Delicious!Definitely a hit. I too, made a few adjustments. I don’t think it needs that much oil I put a few tablespoons (3?). I really liked the suggestion from one of the reviewers which was to add finely chopped carrots and celery. It added a nice freshness and crunch. I don’t care for raisins so I used dried cranberries and used red onion instead of white. Basically you can make many variations depending on your taste. (I don’t care for peas and peppers.). I recommend adding the dressing and the raisins/dried cranberries to the rice while it’s still hot, it absorbs the flavor a lot better and the raisins/cranberries plump up a little from the heat. I refrigerated the rice for a little while before I added the vegetables because I like them to stay crunchy.
Excellent with the following changes: –use 1/2 cup whole Kalamata olives instead of 1/4 c chopped –use 3/4 teaspoons dry mustard instead of Dijon –use olive oil instead of vegetable oil –increase feta cheese to 5 oz and mix with all ingredients –serve salad chilled. I’m thinking about adding pine nuts and trying craisins instead of raisins next time. This recipe is liked by our picky eater in our household.
I made this like a helpful reviewer suggests with carrots and celery, white balsamic vinegar and olive oil since I didn’t have green peas. Next time I’ll try using 1 cup of rice and cut the oil and vinegar in half – a little oily for me. Delicious! J.I.M.
This came out great!! Made a large serving and the leftovers are better than the original as the sauces have time to soak in! Changed raisins to dried cranberries but given the flavors I could see the raisins working too! Yum!
I changed raisins to cranberries (dried) and added walnuts and cilantro. It was well received, but not rave reviews. Perhaps the wrong crowd – it was a potluck with college students. I think I’ll try the recipe with quinoa instead of rice and it might be lighter.
Amazing taste and texture. I made double the dressing and that was a mistake but it was still very tasty!
I didn’t like the balsamic vinegar and dijon mustard flavors together.
Used olive oil, white balsamic, and soaked the raisins in warm water for five minutes or so to soften. Tried it on my husband then made it for a party. It was a big hit!
I enjoyed this unique and different salad alot! I made some slight adjustments but otherwise stayed true to the recipe and enjoyed the combination of ingredients that made this savory and sweet salad. I used a rice blend instead of all brown and used 1/2 cup diced carrots and 1/2 cup of diced celery and omitted the peas. I also diced the red pepper and used 1/2 cup. I used white balsamic vinegar and loved the mild and pleasant sweet flavor combined with the tang of the Dijon mustard. The feta cheese was the crown jewel tying it all together. I liked it best after it was chilled. I will make this again without a doubt. (recipe made for *RECIPE GROUP*)
Recipe Group selection 5/26/12. Sadly, this just didn’t fly at our house and I think it was the rice because all the other flavors were good. I think I will try it again with orzo and I bet that will work. I will come back and edit my review when I do it. Thanks, Anne