Brown Rice Salad w/ Cherry Tomatoes, Halloumi + Pomegranate Dressing

With exactly three weeks until my new book is launched, I’m super excited to announce that for the first time ever, I’ll be visiting South Australia this November for our Thyme to Christmas workshop in collaboration with Cherie Hausler, of All the Things fame, in her beautiful Stables Kitchen in the Barossa Valley. Stylist and prop-hunter extraordinaire Rachael Will, from Vintage Carousel will also be there with her insanely gorgeous selection of vintage wares. 

Pots of hand blended tea will be served throughout the workshop while nibbling on plant-based, mostly gluten-free goodies demonstrated by Cherie and I. A festive curated pop-up shop filled with vintage finds, cookbooks, tea and plant-based provisions will be available for purchase on the day, so you’ll leave completely equipped to create your own version of a handmade Christmas at home. I’ll be cooking recipes from my new book Thyme to Cook, with copies available for purchase on the day.

It’s going to be a delicious day, in a gorgeous space with a bunch of lovely people. Perhaps most importantly, in the crazy weeks before the silly season, this is a workshop with every opportunity to take some time for yourself to ‘unplug’ for the day, in the peace and quiet of the Barossa countryside.

Tickets are extremely limited and selling fast, so grab some friends and come to the Barossa for the day. You’ll leave with Christmas sorted in the most delicious manner!

Date: Sunday November 1st 2026

Place: The Stables Kitchen (Barossa Valley)

Time: 10am – 1pm

Book your tickets HERE.

For links to all my other Australian book tour events, click HERE.

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Brown Rice Salad w/ Cherry Tomatoes, Halloumi + Pomegranate Dressing

Sprouted legumes and toasted seeds bring all the crunch to this substantial brown rice salad, while tomatoes and herbs add freshness and fried halloumi a lovely salty kick. Some finely sliced red onion is also a great addition to this salad, if you like salad with a bit more bite. You’ll find pomegranate molasses at specialty food stores and some supermarkets.

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup medium-grain brown rice rinsed
• 200g packet packet crunchy sprouts bean combo (or a mixture of home-sprouted legumes such as lentil, blue peas and mung beans)
• 1/2 cup lightly toasted pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup lightly toasted sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup lightly toasted sesame seeds
• 250g cherry tomatoes halved
• 200g packet halloumi cheese sliced
• Olive oil to shallow-fry
• Generous handful of mint and parsley leaves roughly chopped

Pomegranate dressing

• 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• The juice of 1 large lemon
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Generous pinch caster sugar
• Fine sea salt to taste

Instructions

• To cook brown rice, place rinsed rice into a medium heavy-based saucepan, cover with 1 3/4 cups cold water, bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to the lowest setting, cover with a lid and cook 40-45 minutes until the water is absorbed and the rice tender. Remove from heat, keeping lid on an allow it to stand for 10 minutes, before removing the lid, fluffing rice up with a fork and setting aside to cool. This can be done in advance.
• In a large bowl, combine cooled rice, crunchy sprouts, toasted seeds (reserve a few for the top if you like) and cherry tomatoes. Heat a large frying pan over high heat, add a touch of olive oil and fry halloumi slices until golden on both sides. Remove from pan and cut into bite-sized pieces. Add to the rice salad, along with the chopped herbs.
• To make the dressing, combine pomegranate molasses, balsamic and lemon juice in the small bowl, whisk in olive oil and season to taste with sugar and salt. If it’s still too sharp add another tablespoon of olive oil.

  Pour enough dressing over salad to coat (you make have extra dressing) and serve.

Notes

Recipe first created for and featured in Nourish Magazine (NZ).