A crunchy tuna, rice, dill & egg salad
This refreshing, energy-boosting salad is a lunchtime staple for me at this time of year when celery, dill and lovely slim green peppers are in the market. It keeps well for a few days, and I love that I can just scoop some into a bowl and lunch is ready! I’m happy to eat it just as is, but occasionally I’ll tear up rocket leaves to mix through it, along with slices of avocado. I always make the full quantity as I eat it over a few days, but if you like the recipe can easily be halved.
Serves 4 – 6
Salad:
2 cups (about 440 g) cooked rice (I use brown rice; however long grain white rice is fine too)
2 large stalks celery, very finely sliced
1 small green capsicum, finely diced
4 large green or spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal
2 x 185 g cans tuna in oil, drained and flaked
About 1/3 cup of chopped dill
1 dozen or so Kalamata olives
3 free-range or organic hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped
A little finely sliced spring onion and dill leaves, extra, to garnish
Lemon wedges, to serve
Dressing:
1/2 cup (125 ml) extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
¼ cup (60 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste
Splash of balsamic vinegar, to taste
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Put all the dressing ingredients into a jar, seal it tightly, then shake it like crazy to thoroughly mix everything together. Dip a spoon in and taste the dressing, then adjust the flavours to suit you. I like it to be quite lemony, so I often add a bit more lemon juice to it. When it’s right, pop the jar in the fridge while you make the salad.
Put the rice, celery, capsicum, spring onion, tuna and dill in a large bowl and mix them all together. Pour in dressing and stir it through so that everything is well coated. You can serve the salad straight away, but I think it tastes even better if it’s covered and chilled for a couple of hours to allow the flavours to develop.
Just before serving, gently mix in most of the black olives and about three-quarters of the chopped egg. Mound it into a large, shallow serving bowl and top it with the remaining egg and olives. Sprinkle on a little extra spring onion and dill, then serve with lemon wedges.