Charred Broccoli and Brown Rice Salad

This salad is warming, filling, and highly nutritious. It contains 8 out of the 17 foods listed in our best beauty foods blog, so it's a huge winner (and if you treat yourself to a couple of squares of dark chocolate straight after, or a glass of red wine during, then well done! You have consumed over half of the best beauty foods on our list in just one sitting - you over-achiever!).

Some of the superstars of this dish include:

The roasted pumpkin, which provides you with complex carbohydrates and beta-carotene (vitamin A) which supports skin and eye health.
Avocado, which is high in healthy fats which are great for skin barrier function and are a source of the vitamins E, K, and A.
Spinach, which is rich in folate (essential for healthy cell growth), high in fibre (great for healthy bowels and waste elimination), and high in iron! In this recipe, we have included lemon juice, which helps to convert the iron into a more bioavailable form, and Iron is essential for oxygen transport and feeds tissues (including skin, hair, and nails).
Broccoli, which contains vitamin C, folate, vitamin A, vitamin K, iron, manganese, and potassium. It also contains the powerful antioxidant called sulforaphane which improves oxygenation of the skin, promotes hair and nail growth and it anti-inflammatory.
Tomatoes, which provide a heap of nutrients, but particularly the skin-protecting antioxidant lycopene.
Hemp seeds, which are a complete protein and provide omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Speaking of complete proteins, the combination of rice and legumes also ensures all of your essential amino acids are covered!

Ingredients

PANTRY ITEMS

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tsp ground cumin

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

Cracked black pepper

2 heads broccoli, cut into 1 cm steaks

1 avocado, sliced

2 cups baby red-vein sorrel leaves

1 cup baby spinach leaves

1 cup sunflower sprouts

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp honey

1 long red chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped

1/2 butternut pumpkin, sliced into moons

1 cup edamame beans

Punnet cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 1/2 cups Brown Basmati Rice

Pink Himalayan Crystal Salt

1 lemon, for serving

Hemp Seeds

NUTRA ORGANICS PRODUCTS

2 tbsp Vegetable Broth Garden Veggie

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Place pumpkin moons on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with cracked black pepper and Pink Himalayan Crystal Salt. Place in oven for 20 minutes or until lovely and golden.

3. Prepare rice to packet instructions, when ready set aside to cool.

4. While the rice is cooking, preheat a char-grill pan over a medium heat. Place the garlic, cumin, 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, veggie broth, salt and pepper in a bowl and stir to combine.

5. Brush both sides of the broccoli steaks with the garlic mixture and grill for 3-4 minutes each side or until charred and tender.

6. To make the dressing, place the vinegar, honey, remaining olive oil and chilli in a bowl and stir to combine.

7. Place the cooled rice, olive, mung beans, pine nuts and half the dressing in a bowl and toss to combine.

8. Divide the rice mixture among plates, top with the broccoli, avocado, tomato, butternut pumpkin, hemp seeds, chilli, lemon, sorrel and sprouts. Drizzle with the remaining dressing and sprinkle with pepper to serve.

Serves 4