Wild Rice & Roast Veg Salad

Serves 4, Total time 30 minutes

This salad is great on its own or as a BBQ side. I tend to mix it up each time I make it: alternating what veggies I choose to roast or what dressing I use. The below recipe is a suggestion of how you could make it however feel free to change up the veg and dressing dependent on what you have in the cupboards/are in the mood for. I have provided the recipes for my two favourite sauce combos below.
This salad can be served either hot or cold.

Ingredients:
2 peppers (different colours is best)
8 cherry tomatoes (on-the-vine are my favourite)
1/2 aubergine
1 red onion
1 garlic clove
1 packet tenderstem broccoli
Bag of kale
Bag of spinach
Large handful cashew nuts (pine nuts and peanuts also work well)
2 tbsp sesame seeds (I like a mixture of white and black)
2 sachets of wild rice
1 tsp chilli flakes
Sesame oil
Salt + pepper to taste

Sauce Options:
Peanut Sauce: 2 tbsp peanut butter, clove of garlic, 2cm chunk of fresh ginger (or ginger paste), can of coconut cream, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp mild curry powder, 1/2 tsp chilli flakes, juice of half a lime. Blitz.

Honey Soy Garlic Sauce: 3 tbsp soy sauce, 1.5 tbsp sesame oil, 2 tbsp honey, 2 cloves of garlic, 2cm chunk of fresh ginger (or ginger paste), chilli paste optional. Blitz

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. Chop your aubergine and peppers into similar sized chunks and place on a baking tray, along with the tomatoes and onion. Cover with 1 tbsp sesame oil, a good pinch of sea salt, some black pepper & a crushed clove of garlic. Roast in oven for 20 minutes, turning half way.
3. Place another tray of veggies in the oven when there are 10 minutes remaining on your timer - this tray should have the tenderstem broccoli and kale with a little bit of sesame oil. Make sure to massage the oil into the kale for maximum deliciousness.
4. While your veggies are roasting, empty your bag of spinach into a big salad serving bowl. Microwave your rice sachets and mix this through the spinach.
5. Prepare your sauce.
6. Remove the veggies from the oven and set aside to cool slightly. (If you add them to your spinach while piping hot, they will wilt the spinach and your salad will lose a lot of volume and can become a little oily.)
7. Dry toast your cashews in a pan on high heat. (Watch these closely as they seem to go from uncooked to burnt in a matter of seconds!) When you think the cashews are about 30 seconds from being done, add the sesame seeds too, stirring constantly (with a dry utensil, otherwise they will all stick.)
8. Now it’s time to put it all together: add the roasted veggies to the spinach & rice and mix thoroughly. Pour about 3/4 of your dressing into the salad and mix it through until it is fairly evenly distributed. Then add the remaining dressing, and nuts and seeds on top. Finish with a sprinkling of chilli flakes. (You can also add fresh herbs here such as coriander or chopped parsley/basil.)