M Savers Summer: Broccoli, green bean and rice salad
I’m back again with another road test of a new M Savers summer recipe. These are part of a Morrisons campaign that features their value food range, with lots of great seasonal recipes, all of which are thrifty and tasty.
They’re designed to be good to share at parties, be family friendly, and keep the costs right down. Today I’m trying out their recipe for broccoli, green bean and rice salad with cashews, and trying a couple of variations on the original.
Original recipe ingredients (serves 4)
- 100g M Savers green beans
- 100g M Savers frozen broccoli florets
- 500g M Savers rice
- 50g M Savers cashews
- 1/2 M Savers red chilli, finely chopped
- 1 M Savers lemon, juiced
- 1tbsp olive oil (15ml)
Method
1. Boil the rice for 12 minutes, then drain and cool
2. Boil broccoli and beans for 3 minutes in a different pan, then refresh in ice cold water to keep the colour
3. Mix chilli, lemon juice and olive oil in a small bowl to make a dressing
4. Mix vegetables and rice together, then top with cashew nuts and drizzle over the dressing
According to Morrisons, this works out at 51p per portion.
My cheaper version
This is a nice simple main-course-sized salad, but you can bring the costs down further with a few tweaks. For starters, the amount of rice suggested here is far too much, and I’d suggest cutting the portion size of dried rice to a more standard amount of 75g per person – in other words only using 300g rice for the whole recipe.
I’d also suggest losing the fresh chilli if money is a big issue (unless, like me, you grow your own), and sprinkling a pinch of dried red chilli flakes on top of the dish instead. This way you aren’t buying whole packs of chillies or forgetting to use the other half chilli up.
Another way to save is using cheaper nuts sprinkled on top, such as chopped up peanuts – but always make sure none of your guests have a peanut allergy if you’re making this for a party. Using these three tips will bring the price down to about 42p per person.
My fancier version
In the picture above I’ve taken the basic recipe, but only used 350g of rice. To add variety and extra flavour, I’ve also added 150g economy range sweetcorn (you might prefer to add a shredded carrot), 2 shredded spring onions, and a small handful of chopped herbs (mint and coriander from the garden). This makes a really tasty, healthy mix, and it isn’t too pricey.
I also changed the dressing for a bit more zip, using 15ml sunflower oil, 30ml light soy sauce, a pinch of brown sugar, the juice of a lime and a whole sliced red chilli.
This dish is also a handy way to use up certain leftovers. You could add a little shredded cooked chicken or beef, or some chopped ham for meat eaters, or a few prawns to increase the protein content. For vegetarians, you could mix in a handful of cooked peas or soya beans instead.
What do you think? There are more recipes over on the Summer Savers website, if you’d like to try them out.
