It’s starting to feel a lot like summer, and lately I’ve been wanting cooler meals that are great for warm weather days.
I’d picked up a pack of black rice a couple of months ago, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to use it. Black rice has a nutty, earthy flavour and can be used cold or warm, in salads, grain bowls, poke bowls, with stews, or just to replace white rice in other dishes. It’s naturally gluten-free, full of fiber, iron, and vitamins, and far lower in carbohydrates + calories than it’s white or brown counterpart. I especially love using black rice in salads because it’s nutty, chewy texture is absolutely amazing with crunchy veggies. The beautiful purple colour is another bonus!
I assembled my salad bowls with seasonal mango, avocado, bell pepper, shredded cabbage, and green onions. I personally love the combination of mango + avocado; and you can also include other veggies like cucumber, radish, or edamame. The dressing is super simple – just whisk together olive oil, sesame oil and lime juice; season with salt and sambal oelek. If you don’t have sambal oelek on hand, sriracha or a pinch of red pepper flakes works just fine too. Drizzle the dressing all over the salad bowls, and serve a little extra sambal alongside.
Store leftovers in the refrigerator (just add the avocado later to prevent it from browning) – that is if you have any left! Make this for dinner tonight, and pack it up for a cooling, filling, work lunch tomorrow.
This is exactly the kind of satisfying healthy meal you want to keep coming back to.
- 1 cup black rice, rinsed
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 2 cups shredded red cabbage
- 1 ripe mango, diced
- 1 avocado, diced
- ½ cup coriander, roughly chopped
- 4 stalks green onions, cut on a bias (diagonally)
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- Salt
- 1-2 teaspoons of sambal oelek (or sriracha, to taste; alternatively you can substitute for ½ teaspoon red chilli flakes)
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Transfer the rinsed black rice and let it cook for about 25 minutes or until slightly al-dente. The rice should still have a bite to it. Drain and rinse under cool tap water.
- To make the dressing, mix the lime juice, olive oil, sesame oil, and sambal oelek (or sriracha) in a small bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning - add salt as desired, more lime juice for zing, or sambal oelek/sriracha for heat.
- Divide the cooked black rice between 4 bowls. Assemble the bowls with the bell pepper slices, shredded red cabbage, diced mango and avocado, coriander, and green onions. Drizzle a tablespoon or two of the dressing on top or serve with dressing on the side, along with lime slices and extra sambal oelek.
- Alternatively, you can also mix everything together in a large salad bowl, toss to combine with the dressing before serving!
If you liked this recipe, you may also like this Mango Salsa, and this Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Mangoes.
Did you make this recipe?
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The flavours and textures were amazing, great summer meal, paired it with grilled fish for dinner and took left overs to work ?? I also made it with quinoa and replaced mango with pineapple, that combination was also a winner!
I just picked up black rice at a recent shopping spree at the Asian market and have been trying to figure out what to do with it. I love the mix of citrus and soy in the dressing, and you are right this is quite a beautiful dish!