Black Rice Salad with Sesame, Ginger and Avocado
A drier take on our summer salad, with the whole grain of Il Moro and a few touches from the East.
Vegan summer rice salad: Riso Nero Integrale Il Moro Acqua e Sole boiled like pasta for 40 minutes and cooled under running water, blanched edamame, mango and avocado in cubes, red Tropea onion, a dressing of lime, naturally fermented soy sauce, freshly grated fresh ginger and white and black sesame seeds toasted in a dry pan. Vegan, and naturally gluten-free if you use tamari soy sauce. Resting in the fridge from thirty minutes to an hour before serving.
Our Riso Nero Integrale Il Moro has a natural toasted note, light, that comes from the wholegrain milling of the grain and from our slow drying at low temperature in the Lumellogno drying house. It is the same family of flavours we find in sesame, in fresh ginger, in a light and well-fermented soy. That is why, when we fancy a different version of the usual summer salad, here at home we take a few touches from the East and head in this direction.
The ingredients we love from the base salad stay, the mango, the avocado, the red Tropea onion, the lime, but the proportions change and three new companions arrive: shelled edamame in place of a sweeter component, white and black sesame seeds toasted for the finish, a grating of fresh ginger in the dressing. The character of the dish shifts: less tropical, drier, better suited to a calm evening on the terrace with a glass of cool white wine.
Il Moro gives its best here, because the whole grain stays the star. It is the variety we keep for cold salads precisely for this: the structure holds even after an hour in the fridge, and the next day it still stands up. A recipe simple in substance, Italian in voice, with Asian inspiration in the gestures. It is a wholly plant-based dish, vegan in substance even before the label, and at our home it is the version we offer when the table needs something light and fragrant.
Ingredients for 4 People
Ingredients
- 320 g Riso Nero Integrale Il Moro Acqua e Sole black rice
- 200 g shelled frozen edamame, already blanched
- 1 ripe mango (about 400 g)
- 1 ripe avocado (about 200 g, reduced amount for balance)
- 1 small red Tropea onion (about 80 g)
- 1 lime (juice only)
- 2 cm fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tablespoons mild extra virgin olive oil (or 1 of toasted sesame + 1 of extra virgin)
- 2 tablespoons naturally fermented soy sauce, low in salt
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, mixed white and black
- to taste freshly ground black pepper
- a handful fresh coriander leaves
Notes from Home
- No salt in the rice cooking water: the soy sauce will add it in the dressing
- Sesame toasted in a dry pan over medium heat, two minutes. It is added only at the end to stay crunchy
- Avocado cut only at the very last moment, before assembling: it oxidises quickly
- Ginger grated fresh on the spot, never powdered: the flavour is not even comparable
- Il Moro cooked like pasta, 40 minutes, rice drained and not absorbed
- Resting in the fridge from thirty to sixty minutes before serving
Method
Cooking the rice (40 min)
We bring two litres of lightly salted water to the boil: the soy sauce will salt later, here a pinch is enough. Pour in the 320 g of Riso Nero Il Moro and cook over medium heat for 40 minutes, stirring now and then. This is cooking like pasta, rice drained and not absorbed: the grain stays separate and holds its structure even when cold.
Cooling (5 min)
Once cooked, drain the rice and pass it straight away under a jet of cold running water, stirring with a spoon to stop the cooking evenly. Let it drain well, transfer it to a wide bowl and dress it with a tablespoon of oil: this keeps the grains from sticking while you prepare the rest.
Edamame (3 min)
Plunge the 200 g of frozen, already blanched edamame into boiling water for two minutes, drain, pass under cold water and dry. They come out bright green and crunchy, exactly as they are needed here.
Toasted sesame (2 min)
In a dry non-stick pan, over medium heat, toast the two tablespoons of white and black sesame, stirring, for two minutes. It is ready when it smells fragrant and the white seeds turn slightly golden. Set aside: it goes in at the very end to stay crunchy, if you add it earlier it takes on moisture.
Mango in cubes (5 min)
Peel the mango with a vegetable peeler. Cut the two side cheeks along the flat stone and obtain regular cubes of about one centimetre. Work the flesh around the stone too, set aside in a small bowl.
Fine red onion (2 min)
Peel the red Tropea onion and slice it very thinly, better with a mandoline or a well-sharpened blade. If you prefer it sweeter and less aggressive, soak the slices in cold water with a drop of vinegar for five minutes, then drain and dry.
Avocado at the last (3 min)
Only now, before assembling, cut the avocado in half around the stone, remove it with the blade of the knife, take out the whole flesh with a spoon and cut it into cubes of about one centimetre. Cut it last, not in advance, otherwise it blackens: the lime in the dressing will keep it alive.
Dressing (3 min)
In a small bowl mix the lime juice, the two tablespoons of soy sauce, the extra virgin olive oil (or a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil and one of extra virgin, if you have it at home), the freshly grated ginger and a grind of black pepper. Do not add salt: the soy is enough, and it will probably be sufficient at serving too.
Assembling (2 min)
In a large bowl combine the now cold rice, the edamame, the mango, the avocado and the onion. Pour over the lime and ginger dressing, add the coriander torn by hand. Stir gently from the bottom upwards, so as not to break the avocado cubes.
Resting and finishing (30-60 min)
Cover the bowl with cling film touching the surface and let it rest in the fridge from thirty minutes to an hour. This is the moment when the flavours come together and the lime with the ginger work on the onion and the avocado, keeping them alive. At serving, stir once more gently, scatter over the toasted sesame seeds and bring to the table cold.
The variety we keep for cold salads
For cold salads, here on the Novara plain, there is only one variety we keep on purpose: our Riso Nero Integrale Il Moro. It is wholegrain black, the pericarp of the grain is not removed, and this gives it structure. In a salad that rests in the fridge the grain stays whole, it does not fall apart, it does not release starch on the outside. We dry it at low temperature in the Lumellogno drying house, and this slow processing is the technical reason it stands up to the cooling. When we make this Asian-natural version there is one more reason to choose it: the toasted note of the wholegrain dialogues with the toasted sesame and with the ginger, they are flavours from the same family. The mild soy sauce acts as a binder without covering, the edamame bring a bright green note that cleans the palate. It is the version we like to make when the table needs something dry and fragrant, Italian in voice, with a few touches from the East in the gestures.
Lumellogno · Novara plain
The three gestures that make the dish
There is a note of method we feel we should highlight, because in a recipe as apparently simple as this one it makes all the difference. There are three gestures, and they must be done in the right order: the sesame is toasted separately in a dry pan and added only at the very end, the ginger is grated fresh at the moment of assembling, the avocado is cut last. Everything else can be ready in advance, even up to four hours before, and is put together when you bring it to the table. We grow Il Moro at Lumellogno and process it in our rice mill, in a closed supply chain with production certified ISO 9001 and low-temperature drying. It is the slow processing that lets the grain stand up to the cooling without cracks.
«The sesame is toasted separately and added at the very end, the ginger is grated fresh on the spot, the avocado is cut last. There are three gestures, and that is the dish.» From the kitchen of Acqua e Sole, Lumellogno
One last thing about the soy. Look for one that is naturally fermented, low in salt: the too-aggressive soys cover the grain and impose a single flavour on the dish. A light soy lets the sesame, the ginger and Il Moro speak, which are the true stars. It is a wholly plant-based dish, vegan in substance, and it is precisely in this cleanness of flavours that it finds its identity.
Questions about the Asian black rice salad
Why does the Il Moro black rice work in this version with sesame and ginger?
Can I use sesame oil instead of extra virgin olive oil?
Can I prepare the salad in advance?
Recommended Pairing
To accompany this dry and fragrant version we like fresh, mineral Piedmontese whites, with good acidity, that echo the lime and the ginger without weighing things down. We happily open an Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG, a white from Upper Piedmont with a citrussy note that dialogues well with the dressing, or a base Erbaluce white from the Colline Novaresi DOC, closer to our home.
Alternatively, for those after something with more character, a Piedmontese orange wine from Erbaluce or Arneis macerated on the skins supports the toasted sesame and the soy sauce well. Avoid reds: the tannic structure clashes with the noble bitterness of the wholegrain Moro and with the freshness of the ginger. No very structured wines: this version is dry and fragrant, it wants a white that accompanies, not one that weighs.
Riso Nero Integrale Il Moro Acqua e Sole
Our wholegrain black rice, grown at Lumellogno and processed in our rice mill, in a closed supply chain with production certified ISO 9001. Whole pericarp, a natural toasted note that the wholegrain milling develops, slow drying at low temperature that lets the grain stay compact even after cooling. It is the variety we keep for cold salads, and the one we recommend for this Asian version with sesame, ginger and edamame.
Bring Il Moro homeOriginal Acqua e Sole recipe, from our kitchen in Lumellogno.