Luxurious, beautiful, and brimming with flavor, there’s a reason it used to be reserved only for the aristocracy in ancient China: forbidden rice is the royalty of all rices – the one to elevate simple grain-based salads to another plane of culinary excellence. In this vegan black rice recipe, you’ll find fresh bell peppers, oranges and wilted spinach folded into a nutty bed of forbidden rice, and adorned atop it a mound of spicy sautéed edamame finished off with a creamy drizzle of a simple lemon-tahini sauce – you gotta’ try it!
Black Rice Recipe Ingredients
This is a very simple yet elegant black rice recipe that anyone can make in about an hour. While it has many separate components (cooking the rice, sautéing the beans, mixing together the tahini), they’re all fairly easy to execute, and require only a little coordination to bring everything together at the same time.
- Black rice (also known as forbidden rice)
- Pure sesame oil
- Frozen edamame
- Garlic cloves
- Chili-garlic paste (or sriracha)
- Red pepper flakes
- Spinach
- Red bell pepper
- Orange
While this black rice salad recipe is best served warm, it can be made ahead of time, and stored in the fridge for a couple days to eat for a mid-day lunch. If you do plan on making this for a meal prep, store the tahini dressing separately, and drizzle it on as you eat it.
Forbidden Rice: How Do I Cook It?
Black rice – A.K.A. forbidden rice – has a very nutty, earthy flavor, as well as a hearty bite that’s hard to understate. It makes the perfect base for this black rice recipe, and contrasts well against all the other ingredients in both flavor and texture.
Despite it’s exotic name, cooking forbidden rice is fairly accessible, and not so much different from other forms of hard-husked rices like brown rice.
- Bring your rice and water to boil in a medium pot. If you’d like, you can season it with salt. Some people also like to add a little olive oil too, but really neither is necessary for this black rice recipe.
- Once boiling, turn the heat down to low, cover the pot with the lid, and let the rice cook for 30 – 35 minutes. You can usually tell the rice is nearly done because not as much steam will be escaping from the pot (hence, not a lot of moisture left).
- Don’t take the lid off to test the rice! Remove it from the heat, and let it steam for another 10 minutes – this is the secret to cooking ALL rice, not just black rice. Let it steam, and it’ll finish cooking gently, thus becoming fluffy and even more aromatic.
And there you go – the perfect forbidden rice for this vegan black rice recipe.
Easiest Go-To Tahini Dressing Recipe
It’s just 4 ingredients!
I make it all the time, mostly because it’s so conveniently quick and so tasty. It’s a wonderfully creamy, bitter, citrus-y dressing to pair with pretty much anything, and it looks beautiful when drizzled. Moreover, it’s a great option for people who are looking to avoid heavier oil-based dressings.
- 3 tablespoons raw tahini
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons water
- Some salt and ground black pepper
Here are some possible substitutions that you can make that’ll yield an equally drizzle-able and delectable dressing.
– Use roasted tahini instead of raw tahini
– Use lime juice instead of lemon juice
Other Salads Like This One!
– GRILLED CORN AND AVOCADO SALAD
– MOROCCAN COUSCOUS TABOULI WITH QUICK HARISSA CHICKPEAS
– TAHINI’D LENTIL-CARROT SALAD
– WARM ROASTED CAULIFLOWER & TAHINI SALAD WITH CANDIED SPICY WALNUTS
I hope that you enjoyed this vegan black rice recipe. If you did, consider leaving me a comment or recipe rating before you go!
Forbidden Rice Salad with Spicy Edamame
Ingredients
- 1 cup black rice, also known as forbidden rice
- 1 ¾ cups water
- 1 tablespoon pure sesame oil
- 1 cup shelled frozen edamame, thawed in luke warm water for 5 minutes
- 1 – 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ – 1 tablespoon chili-garlic paste, or sriracha
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 cups spinach
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into thin matchsticks
- 1 orange, peeled and cut into small sections
For the Tahini Dressing
- 3 tablespoons raw tahini
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons water
- Some salt and ground black pepper
Instructions
- Begin by combining the black rice with the water in a medium pot over high heat. Bring this to a boil, cover, and then reduce to a steady simmer (low heat). Cook the rice for 30 – 35 minutes. After that, remove the rice from the heat, and let it steam with the lid still on for another 10 minutes. Alternative: or read the instructions on your package of black rice, and cook accordingly.
- Meanwhile, shell some frozen edamame, and then thaw them in luke warm water for 5 minutes. After that, drain the soybeans, and dry them off lightly. Then, in a cast-iron skillet over medium heat with 1 tablespoon of pure sesame oil, sauté the edamame with the garlic clove until the beans begin to brown and get more crispy, about 5 – 7 minutes. Add the chili-garlic paste and red pepper flakes afterwards, and continue sautéing for another 1 minute or so, making sure all the soybeans become coated in chili-garlic sauce. Remove the cast-iron from the heat, and cover it with foil to keep warm if your rice is still not done cooking yet.
- Once the rice is done, add it into a large mixing bowl, along with the fresh spinach. Fold the spinach into the warm rice to wilt it most of the way, and then add the red bell pepper and orange, and fold them in as well.
- Next, combine together the tahini dressing ingredients (raw tahini, lemon juice, water, salt and ground black pepper) in a small bowl, and whisk until smooth and creamy. Add more lemon juice and water until you achieve your desired drizzle-able consistency.
- Serve the black rice on a large platter, topped with the spicy edamame, and a generous drizzle of tahini sauce. You can also sprinkle on some toasted sesame seeds too, if you have them.
Nutrition
May you have good food in good company,
That Vegan Nephew
Love the black rice. What a wonderfully dramatic ingredient it is with the bright green edamame. And the simple tahini dressing is just perfect. I think that would be good on most anything. Thanks TVN!
This rice recipe did not good at all . I’ve been a vegan for over 7 years and this recipe tasted awful. It had a very sour note to it . Does not look anything like the photo! A lot of work and money to be thrown out . No one in my family would eat it.
Ah, darn – I’m sorry to hear that the recipe didn’t go over very well, Jan. It’s of course not my intention to publish something that isn’t tasty or satisfying to eat, so I’ll have to revisit this recipe and improve it. Thank you for the feedback ~