Black Rice Salad with Mango and Cashews
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This black rice salad is absolutely delicious. It’s made with forbidden rice, sweet mangoes and oranges, toasted or spicy cashews, and an incredible citrus salad dressing.
If you love combining sweet and savory flavors, then this black rice salad is for you! The nutty forbidden black rice, sweet mango and orange pieces, and crunchy toasted cashews make every bite a happy one.
You can prepare this salad several hours in advance, making it perfect for a dinner party or a picnic. It also keeps really well for a day or two in the fridge, making it ideal for meal prep.
What is black rice? Black rice, also known as Forbidden Rice, is a type of glutinous rice that is black but turns deep purple when cooked. Its color is primarily due to anthocyanins, the same pigment that colors raspberries and blueberries. It has a slightly nutty flavor and a chewy texture similar to brown rice.
Variations to try
- Fruit: Replace the oranges with more mangos. Or, add some pineapple, persimmon, papaya, or other tropical fruit.
- Nut swap: Switch up the nuts. Peanut or almonds make great choices.
- Veggies: Make it more veggie-forward with cucumbers, peppers, or snap peas.
- Hot or cold: While this recipe is intended to be served at room temperature, it is also delicious served warm. Instead of cooling the rice after it’s cooked, simply mix all the ingredients together right away for a warm black rice salad.
What to serve with black rice salad
This black rice salad definitely has an Asian vibe to it so goes well with Asian-inspired recipes. But it’s also quite versatile so if you have a favorite chicken or fish recipe, chances are that it will go well with this salad. For chicken, I love serving it with my baked sesame ginger chicken, but it’s also amazing with salmon. Try my pecan crusted salmon with garlic maple glaze or 8 minute baked salmon.
Black Rice Salad with Mango and Cashews Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups black rice + 3 ½ cups water
- ¼ cup EACH: lime juice and orange juice
- 1 tablespoon EACH: fish sauce, honey, and cooking oil
- 3 Alphonso mangos (or 2 globe mangos, cut into chunks)
- 6 mini mandarin oranges (or 3 regular oranges, segmented)
- ½ cup EACH: toasted cashews and chopped cilantro
- ¼ cup EACH: thinly sliced red onion and chopped green onions
Instructions
- Cook the rice. Put the black rice and water into a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and set it aside for 5 minutes.2 cups black rice + 3 ½ cups water
- Make the dressing. In a glass measuring cup or bowl, mix the lime juice, orange juice, fish sauce, honey, and oil.¼ cup EACH: lime juice and orange juice, 1 tablespoon EACH: fish sauce, honey, and cooking oil
- Cool the rice. When the black rice has finished cooking, transfer it to a rimmed baking sheet and spread it out into a thin layer. This helps it cool fast. Pour the dressing over the rice and mix well. Let the rice sit until it has cooled and the dressing has absorbed, about 10 minutes.
- Finish the salad. Transfer the rice to a large mixing bowl then add the mangoes, oranges, cashews, cilantro, red onions, and green onions and mix well.3 Alphonso mangos, 6 mini mandarin oranges, ½ cup EACH: toasted cashews and chopped cilantro, ¼ cup EACH: thinly sliced red onion and chopped green onions
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Nutrition
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It says it needs fish sauce but also says that its vegetarian. Is there a substitute I can use?
This was miscategorized – I apologize about that! You can leave it out if you don’t eat fish sauce, but you may want to add more salt.
This rice salad was wonderful! I served it with your mango chutney chicken – so much mango! – and it went together perfectly.
I’ve had black rice in my pantry forever and never knew what to do with it. Thanks for the recipe idea!
No problem, Joanne! Hope you love the recipe as much as I did. btw it’s awesome with peanuts too 🙂
It makes such a difference for me too to see pictures! The original recipe calls for peanuts instead of cashews which I also think would be delicious. I hope you try the salad, it’s definitely a good one!