Brown Rice Salad with Silver Beet and Chickpeas

I was at the market the other day and saw some gorgeous looking silver beet and decided to experiment. Sautéed, it was quite delicious on its own but I wanted to add some other elements – nuts for textural crunch, pomegranate for a burst of sweetness, cinnamon for warmth and lemon zest for zing. The brown rice is a lovely nutty base for all these components but it also works wonderfully without the rice. If you chose to do this, you could add some crumbled feta for an extra dimension.

1½ cups brown rice

½ bunch silverbeet, stems finely sliced and leaves roughly sliced

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed well

½ cup toasted slivered almonds

seeds of half a pomegranate or substitute with ¼ cup dried cranberries

zest of one lemon

1/2 tspn cinnamon

1 tbspn olive oil

1 tbspn pomegranate molasses

Cook rice according to instructions on packet. Add a generous pinch of salt to cooking liquid for flavor. Allow rice to cool.

Saute silverbeet stalks in olive oil until tender (about 5 minutes). Add leaves, stir and cover with a lid until leaves start to wilt. Combine rice, silverbeet, chickpeas, zest, almonds and pomegranate seeds. Drizzle over molasses and toss to combine.