Black Rice Salad with Mango, Avocado and Prawns
Fresh, colourful, complete. The summer one-bowl meal we make in Lumellogno with our rice, which holds its grain even cold.
A summer rice salad with Il Moro Acqua e Sole wholegrain black rice, prawns blanched for two minutes in boiling water with a bay leaf and cooled in iced water, ripe mango cut into cubes, avocado cut at the last moment, finely sliced red Tropea onion, a lime dressing, basil or coriander. A one-bowl meal that is naturally gluten-free. It takes 25 minutes of active work, 42 minutes of cooking and 30-60 minutes resting in the fridge. The salt is adjusted at assembly, never before.
When we need a one-bowl meal that rounds off lunch with no main course and no sides, we add prawns to our black rice salad. It works for the office lunch carried from home, for a summer dinner with a couple of friends on the terrace, for a day out where the cool bag has to be enough. This is the version we make at home, here on the Novara plain, when only one dish comes to the table.
The rice we use is our Il Moro Wholegrain Black Rice, wholegrain black from our paddy fields in Lumellogno. It is the variety we keep for cold salads, and there is a precise reason: the whole pericarp, dried at low temperature in our drying plant, means the grain does not split, does not flake, does not release starch on the outside. Even after four hours in the fridge, it holds.
The sweetness of the mango with the freshness of the avocado pairs well with the marine note of the prawns, the red Tropea onion stays fine so it does not overpower, the lime holds it all together. They are ingredients that work in balance, each in its place, and the dish composes itself: the black of the grain, the orange of the mango, the green of the avocado, the purple of the onion and the coral-pink of the prawns. No added garnish, only the ingredients.
Ingredients for 4 People
Ingredients
- 320 g Il Moro Wholegrain Black Rice Acqua e Sole
- 400 g raw peeled prawns (size 31/40)
- 1 bay leaf (for cooking the prawns)
- 1 ripe mango (about 400 g)
- 2 ripe avocados (about 400 g)
- 1 small red Tropea onion (about 80 g)
- 1 lime (juice and grated zest)
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- to taste fine salt
- to taste freshly ground black pepper
- 1 handful fresh basil or coriander leaves
Notes from Home
- Rice cooked the all’inglese way, drained rather than absorbed: this is the technique that keeps the grain separate
- Cooling under running water: stops the cooking evenly and blocks the starch
- Prawns for two minutes in boiling water with a bay leaf, then straight into iced water: blanched, never boiled for long
- Avocado cut only at the last moment, never in advance: otherwise it turns brown
- Salt added at assembly, not before: otherwise onion and avocado release water
- Resting in the fridge from 30 to 60 minutes, covered with cling film touching the surface
Method
Cooking the rice (40 min)
We bring a large pan with two litres of salted water to the boil (one level tablespoon of coarse salt). We add the Il Moro black rice and cook over medium heat for about forty minutes, stirring now and then. Cooking the all’inglese way, with the rice drained rather than absorbed, is the right technique for cold salads: the grain stays separate and keeps its structure.
Cooling the rice (5 min)
Once cooked, we drain the rice and pass it straight under cold running water, stirring with a spoon to stop the cooking evenly. We let it drain well, then transfer it to a wide bowl. We dress it with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and stir: this keeps the grains from sticking while we prepare the rest.
Cooking the prawns (2 min)
In a pan we bring half a litre of salted water to the boil with a bay leaf. We add the peeled prawns, count two minutes from when the water returns to the boil, then drain. We plunge them straight into a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking. Once cold, we pat them dry with kitchen paper.
Mango into cubes (5 min)
We peel the mango with a vegetable peeler. We cut the two side cheeks along the flat stone, then cut neat cubes of about one centimetre. We work the flesh around the stone too. We set it aside in a small bowl.
Finely sliced red onion (2 min)
We peel the red Tropea onion and slice it as finely as possible, ideally with a mandoline or a well-sharpened blade. If you prefer a sweeter, less aggressive flavour, soak the slices in cold water with a drop of vinegar for five minutes, then drain and pat dry.
Lime dressing (3 min)
In a small bowl we mix the juice of one whole lime, two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, the grated lime zest and a grind of black pepper. We do not add the salt yet: that goes in at assembly, to keep the onion and avocado from releasing water too soon.
Avocado at the last moment (3 min)
We cut the avocado in half around the stone, separate the two halves and remove the stone with the blade of the knife. With a spoon we lift out the whole flesh, lay it on the board and cut cubes of about one centimetre. Important: we cut the avocado only now, not in advance, otherwise it turns brown.
Assembly (3 min)
In a large bowl we combine the now-cold rice, the cooked prawns, the mango, the avocado and the onion. We pour over the lime dressing, adjust the salt and add the basil or coriander leaves torn by hand. We stir gently from the bottom upwards, so as not to break the avocado cubes or the flesh of the prawns.
Resting in the fridge (30-60 min)
We cover the bowl with cling film touching the surface and let it rest in the fridge for thirty to sixty minutes before serving. This is when the flavours come together and the lime works on the onion and the avocado, keeping them lively. To serve, we stir once more gently and bring it to the table cold.
The wholegrain black that stands up to the cold
For cold salads, here with us there is only one variety worth trying: our Il Moro Wholegrain Black Rice. It is wholegrain black, the pericarp of the grain is not removed, and that gives it structure. In a salad that rests in the fridge, the grain stays whole. We dry it at low temperature in the Lumellogno drying plant, and this slow processing is the technical reason it stands up to cooling. In the version with prawns, the hold of the grain matters even more: the water from the cooked prawns, however little, and the water the avocado and onion release over the hours of resting, do not break the rice down. The dish stays clean, defined, even the next day.
Lumellogno · The Novara plain
Prawns blanched, never boiled for long
The most delicate technical point of this recipe is the prawns. You need good-quality raw peeled prawns (size 31/40 is the right measure to sit alongside the black rice grain), and they should be blanched only briefly: two minutes in salted boiling water with the bay leaf, from the moment it returns to the boil, then straight into the bowl with iced water. Not a second more. Boiled for long they turn rubbery, lose their flesh and release water into the salad. Blanched this way they stay firm and sweet instead, and when you cut them in half the meat is coral-pink inside, white outside, intact.
«Our Il Moro Wholegrain Black Rice is the house variety for cold salads all summer long. Whole pericarp, slow drying, a grain that stands up to the cold and to the water of the other ingredients. When only one dish comes to the table, this is what we put in the bowl.» From the Acqua e Sole kitchen, Lumellogno
One word of caution we would give on the avocado: cut it truly last, after the rice, prawns, mango and onion are already in the bowl. Dress it straight away with the lime juice the moment it comes into contact with the other ingredients. It is the acidity of the lime that stops the oxidation and keeps it green, and this is why the dressing is prepared first but the salt is added only at the end.
Questions about black rice salad with prawns
Which black rice should I use for a cold salad with prawns?
Can I use pre-cooked or frozen prawns instead of raw ones?
Can I make black rice salad with prawns ahead of time?
Suggested Pairing
To go with a summer one-bowl meal of prawns and tropical fruit we like fresh Piedmontese whites, with good acidity and a citrus aroma, which converse with the sweetness of the mango without covering the marine note of the prawns. We happily open a well-chilled Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG, or a young Roero Arneis DOCG.
If you are after something more festive, a Piedmontese brut nature rosé sparkling wine served at cellar temperature works very well: the bubbles cleanse the palate between forkfuls, and the pink in the glass sits nicely beside the coral-pink of the prawns in the bowl. Best avoided are structured, oaky whites: at the table in summer and with the lime they weigh the dish down.
Il Moro Wholegrain Black Rice Acqua e Sole
Il Moro is our wholegrain black, the variety we always keep in the pantry for cold salads all summer long. Whole pericarp, dried at low temperature in the Lumellogno drying plant: the grain stays firm and separate, and stands up to resting in the fridge with the prawns, the mango and the avocado without breaking down. We grow it in our own paddy fields and process it on site, in a closed supply chain with ISO 9001 certified production. It is the rice we put in the bowl when only one dish comes to the table.
Take Il Moro homeOriginal Acqua e Sole recipe, from our kitchen in Lumellogno.