If you have a particularly bitter or sour or any horrible tasting medicine, it leaves you with an impression that its good for you. Anything that bad must definitely do something..you know what I mean? Its a psychological thing. A friend of mine used to prefer Dettol (stings when applied on wounds) over Savlon (non stinging one). Her policy was “The mild one doesn’t do anything, I don’t think it works!” Where as when Dettol goes in, you really FEEL that it works.

When it comes to diet food or to a good extend, vegetarian food in American restaurants, the same theory applies. The honest truth is that doesn’t taste good most of the time. You end up telling yourself that you are eating healthy and that’s the bonus for going through the torture of eating it. Eventually our taste buds do adapt to eating bland food or diet food, but it is a continuous process where you have to remind yourself of the benefits involved. (Or you should be like me and have no taste buds at all. All I have is sweet buds and I am not trading them for anything! :D).

So this particular recipe really caught me by surprise. Its a detox recipe and yet it tastes fabulous. Keep in mind that I really love eating veggies raw, so if you are not a salad person, then its an effort for you to appreciate this. What I liked most about this recipe is the sauce. I am already thinking of using it with pasta or even as a sandwich spread.

And why does a diet recipe have rice in it? Are we not supposed to torture ourselves when dieting? Well, one of the ideas behind a detox diet is to eliminate the common allergy foods from your plate. That includes stepping away from gluten and diary. Whole foods are in and refined foods are out. So that means, brown rice is in and white bread is out. And to an Indian, everything is fine if rice is there in the menu – at least to this particular Indian :D. So read on for this recipe that was pure joy to have :-)

Recipe source: Swef the Chef

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown rice
• 1/2 tomato, diced into small pieces
• 1/2 of a small bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup cucumber, chopped finely
• 1/4 avocado, sliced
• fruits like pomegranate or more veggies of your choice
• salt, if needed

Blend together for the sauce:

• 1 small red chili
• 1 inch piece ginger
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter**(or handful of peanuts)
• 1 tablepoon sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• handful of cilantro

**Peanut butter was a bit of surprise for me in this recipe, but since it works for me, I left it as such. It can be substituted with almond butter.

Method:

1. Blend everything together to make the sauce. Set aside.
2. Cook brown rice according to package instructions. When its done, let it cool to room temperature.
3. Gently mix the sauce with the rice, you may not end up using all the sauce. Add half at first, taste test and then add more as you need.
4. Mix in the chopped veggies and combine carefully for even distribution. Top with avocado slices. Enjoy.
5. Since there is soy sauce in the recipe, you might want to taste taste the salad before adding salt.