Are you an enthusiast in life? Are you doing what you love? Are you following your passions, your dreams, and pushing your boundaries?
I’ve been asking myself all of those questions because most days it feels like I’m chasing an unknown dream. However, I know that I’m meant to be on this journey and that ultimately it’s the right choice for me. For some reason, I feel compelled to write, to make and share recipes, and to absolutely pour my heart into my craft.
Of course I’m sure you have a passion too — something that makes your heart beat enthusiastically; but are you doing something about it? So many of us wait for moments of success to appear in front of us instead of seeking out and pursuing what we truly want. The important thing is to let your passion flow freely and enable your dreams to live wildly. Your intuition will guide you through your fear.
Perhaps you don’t know what your passion is yet. If that’s the case, ask yourself this what you do effortlessly. We all create our own happiness and the most important thing I’ve realized is that we all have limited time. So spend the time you do have, doing what you LOVE!
OKAY, the Tuesday Preach is over. Time for me to share my exquisite passion for delicious salad making with you.
This salad is absolutely incredible and probably one of my new favorites. I’d even put it right up there with my Thai Quinoa Salad.
The flavors are bright, fresh, and flavorful. Not only is it incredibly healthy, but it’s also gluten free and vegan friendly.
The dressing? HOLY LOVE OF MY LIFE. To die for! I want to swim in a bowl of it. I could chug a glass for breakfast, it’s that good.
Alright the last statement was extreme, but you get where I’m going with it. It’s simply delightful.
Now you might be wondering what black rice is and where you can find it.
Also known as “Forbidden Rice”, black rice used to be grown in very small amounts and typically was only meant for emperors who ruled China long ago. The rice is a deep black color and turns a dark purple when cooked. It also is a chewy grain with incredible health benefits including vitamin E, antioxidants, and disease prevention chemicals (the good kind)! I highly encourage you to do some more research on this wonderful rice. Here’s a great article to get you started.
I found organic black rice at Whole Foods, and that’s probably going to be your best bet. Otherwise you could always order it online. If you can’t find black rice, quinoa or jasmine brown rice would be a nice substitute.
This rice salad really has it all. Sweet mango, creamy avocado, the nutty crunch from the almonds, and the fresh taste from the dressing and cilantro. It’s perfect for potlucks, served by itself, or would be great with grilled chicken or fish.
Enjoy!
Other salad recipes to try:
Fiesta Mango Black Bean Quinoa Salad
Kale, Edamame & Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
Balsamic Chicken Berry Quinoa Salad
Orange Strawberry Avocado Salad with Citrus Poppyseed Dressing
Chicken Kale Waldorf Salad with Avocado & Goat Cheese
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Mango & Avocado Black Rice Salad with Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups organic black rice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large ripe mango, diced
- 1 small ripe avocado, diced or sliced
- 1/4 cup roasted almonds
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/2 cup diced red onion
- For the Vinaigrette:
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 3 limes)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon honey (agave nectar if vegan)
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- salt and pepper to taste
- lime wedges, to garnish
Instructions
- Rinse rice in mesh strainer. Add to medium saucepan. Add 2 3/4 cups water and a pinch of salt; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce to a low simmer, and cook until rice is tender and water is absorbed, about 30-40 minutes. When rice is done cooking, remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Cool for 10 minutes before adding dressing.
- While rice is cooking prepare the dressing: Combine lime juice, olive oil, garlic, honey (or agave), cilantro, and salt in a food processor. Process for 15-30 seconds or until dressing is combined.
- Once rice is done cooking and has cooled a bit, stir in dressing, cover bowl and place in fridge for an hour or until cool and you are ready to add in the rest of the salad ingredients.
- Before serving, toss salad again with dressing and fold in cilantro, mango, and red onion. Pour into cold salad bowls and top with roasted almonds and avocado. Garnish with a lime wedge or extra cilantro if desired. Enjoy!
Delicious! I made several modifications: black quinoa instead of rice (easier for me to find), cashews instead of almonds, and I added about half a cup of cubed feta which worked beautifully with the other ingredients here. Highly recommend boosting the salt a little (all that lime/tart flavor wants a touch more salt to go with it!). Next time I think I’ll throw in some mint to up the herbiness.
Perfect! This one’s great for customizing 🙂 Glad you enjoyed1
This is an easy recipe for a quick salad that is both colorful and very tasty. One of the advantages is that you can substitute or add in different fruits for a different color and taste. Made it for a reunion and it was a great hit.
So happy to hear that!
How many calories and nutritional info on the forbidden rice salad?
Amazing…
Vv
Yum Yum Yum.. This is the first recipe I’ve made from ambitious kitchen and certainly won’t be the last.
Great
gorgeous
Simple to make… delicious and loaded with fresh flavours. Tick!
So glad you enjoyed!
Is delicious, I have leftover of white rice I use it instead of black rice!
Perfect! Glad you love this one!
A vegan friend was visiting, causing me to try something new. Loved this salad and will make it again even when not facing a “vegan challenge.” I used Black Japonica rice from Lundberg farms. Following the directions, I ended up with more than 4 servings (even when served as lunch) and would have cut back on the rice which was beautiful and delicious – but I think a cup raw would have sufficed.I added additional lime which won’t be necessary if I reduce amount of rice in the future. Tasty and very beautiful too.
Perfect! That rice sounds amazing in here. I hope your friend loved this, too!
such a gorgeous salad!
I swear, I am not recipe stalking! Once I found your site and tried the Butternut Squash Enchies, I was hooked. (I dream of the cashew crema…….lol).
I love Forbidden Rice and this salad is amazing & screams Spring/Summer! I added a diced tomato. It would be perfect to serve along side grilled salmon! Thanks for another great recipe and inspiration 🙂
Hey recipe stalking is the best way to cook! 😉 Love that cashew crema. And absolutely, try this one next!
On it!
This salad is amazing! I added more mangos, pineapple, and blackberries. It is refreshing, beyond delicious. I think I could eat this every single day! Love the chewy nuttiness of the black rice too. Deserves more than 5 stars!
YUM the extra fruit sounds delicious in here! Glad you love this one!
DELICIOUS. Made this last night with the addition of both queso fresco and seco crumbles (I love cheese). My guests multiple times remarked that it was fabulous. The almonds are a nice touch. I made some of the dressing without cilantro for a “cilantro tastes like soap” friend, and she also said it was an awesome meal.
Amazing! So happy to hear that, Portia 🙂 Also the cheese additions sound delicious!
I LOVE this recipe! One warning… Only use fresh cilantro :). I love cilantro, and used fresh the first time I made this. The second time, I was in a hurry and used dried cilantro. It kind of ruined the batch.
Also, in one batch, instead of mango I went to whole foods salad bar and got grilled pineapple, red onions, carrots, and celery; then chopped all that up really fine, then I add that mixture to the rice when serving. Really freaking delicious!
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’m a new vegan, and I don’t usually follow recipes. I know that I’ll have fun making your recipe, and I’ll get a lot of health benefits from it.
I’m Haitian, so black rice was a staple growing up. I think my family will enjoy this new dish too.
Thank you so much!
So, what’s next? “Once rice is done cooking and has cooled a bit, stir in dressing and . “
Made this yesterday for a potluck gathering. It was the talk of the table. Absolutely amazing! Thank you.
Is it possible to sub anything for cilantro? Or is it not worth it. My family hates cilantro
I really liked the idea of this dish, but what I made was absolutely disgusting. I may have made a few too many mistakes… First off, I used wild rice instead of black rice. Then, I used lemon instead of lime, parsley leaves instead of cilantro, and pistachios instead of almonds. I though that each substitution was valid, but boy was I wrong. From the nutty and weirdly cardboard-like taste of the rice to the sour dressing, I found my interpretation of this recipe vomit worthy. Beware.
I’m confused. You changed the entire recipe.
Yes. And I recommend not doing that.
Looks fab – I think I’ve just found dinner for tonight!
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Will be taking my black rice/ chick pea/ glazed tempeh to a potluck tomorrow. I am adding some diced red pepper, diced carrot and some diced dried apricot since there are no mangos in season right now. I love rice and grain salads to take to potlucks. The glazed tempeh recipe can be found on The Tempeh Girls Facebook page.
happy eating everyone
betsy shipley
How many calories?
perfect for Sydney summer with mangos etc. just served this up with poached chicken in coconut milk
I want some!
I'm excited about the combination of rice & mango. I'm making this tomorrow!
I just had this salad for lunch, and both my boyfriend and I found it very delicious! I substituted the black rice for quinoa and added black beans for color and extra nutritional value and we loved it! Thank you!
I made this last night and substituted quinoa because I didn’t want to go to the store! I loved it that way and I’m sure the black rice would be great too. Definitely keeping this in the rotation. And P.S…..good for you for pursuing your dreams. It’s probably one of the scariest, yet rewarding choices you can make.
I made this for dinner last night. My husband and teenage son were skeptical – but could not get enough of it once they tried it. My husband woke up this morning and said he had thought about it all night and was so glad that there were leftovers for his lunch! Thanks for such a great recipe.
I like your "Tuesday Preach"! And I really like this salad!
Looks amazing! Fresh lime, gorgeous avocado and delicious healthy black rice – perfection. xx Sarah @ The Sugar Hit
Just made this. WONDERFUL! Will keep it in the regular rotation. Thanks!
This recipe looks wonderful. I’ve fallen in love with the lime cilantro dressing at one of my favorite brewpubs, and have been looking for a good recipe because I have absolutely no idea what they put in it besides the obvious. I’m glad to know that you are pursuing your dreams. Now that I am retired, I am, too. My husband and I are volunteer guides at one of our local state parks, so we get to spend a lot of time out there. Plus we do a lot of traveling. I’m glad you were able to figure this out at a much younger age. 🙂
Oh yeah, I know what’s for dinner tonight 😉 Great post! Happy to see you pursuing your dreams!
This sounds delicious!
Looks amazing! Not surprised to see another amazing salad from you!
This looks great! Off topic a bit, but can you tell me what kind/brand of olive oil you use? I’ve been trying to find a great tasting, yet not overly-expensive EVOO! Thanks!
Veronica I love the extra light olive oil because don’t have the strong taste hope I help you 🙂
The extra light olive oil is the 3rd press. Not the best oil to get!
Looks great! Can't wait to try it