• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Feast & Lore

Food stories featuring heritage recipes and new experiments.

  • Home
  • Recipes
  • About

pleb feast

Forbidden Mango Peanut Rice Salad

September 26, 2017 By Caroline 16 Comments

Have you tried Forbidden Rice? At one time in China it was reserved for royalty alone, which is how it got its name. It seems those emperors were onto something—black Forbidden Rice has more powerful antioxidants, fibre and protein than both red and brown rice. Not only is it good for you, it tastes great and looks striking, especially when set off by the gorgeous mango and orange in this recipe. Make it on a Sunday afternoon, pack and enjoy for heathy lunches during the week.

After cooking the rice, spread it out on a baking sheet to make it easier to evenly drizzle the dressing over. It also helps speed up the cooling process.

Black rice spread evenly onto rimmed baking sheet

The dressing is a simple mix of lime and orange juice with olive oil and some chilies, salt and pepper.

Citrus dressing in a bowl

Depending on the season, I like to change up some of the vegetables a bit. For hot summer weather like we’ve seen in Toronto the past few weeks, I like to go with cucumbers and cilantro. When it gets a bit cooler, I switch the cucumbers up for roasted beets, cutting up some of the beet greens to mix in as well. To roast the beets, wrap in foil and bake at 400° for about 1 hour, until a knife slides through easily, cutting off the outer skin after roasting.

Beets in foil

Also makes for a killer picnic salad to take along to the beach! This recipe was inspired by the Black Rice Salad with Mango and Peanuts via Epicurious.

Mango salads shot from above, on a beach blanket

 

Forbidden black rice not only looks striking, it's even better for you than brown rice!

 

4 from 5 votes
Print

Forbidden Mango Peanut Rice Salad

Lush mango and bright citrus top healthy and delcious "forbidden" black rice with cilantro and a few other crunchy vegetables. Topped with dry roasted peanuts and spicy peanut sauce, this is a great portable lunch feast great for a summer picnic or working lunch.

Course Lunch, Salad
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 2 oranges
  • 2 tbsp fresh orange juice, gathered from cut up oranges
  • 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • dried chile flakes to taste
  • 2 cups Forbidden black rice
  • 2 fresh mangos
  • 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves roughly chopped
  • 1–2 jalapenos, to taste seeded and sliced
  • 1 seedless cucumber sliced into 2" lengths, 1/4" wide
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
  • 2 red beets, roasted and chopped (optional)
  • 1/2 cup beet leaves, sliced (optional)
  • 1/2 cup salted, dry-roasted peanut
  • 1/3 cup Thai style peanut sauce

Instructions

  1. Bring rice and 2 3/4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Season with salt to taste. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 25 minutes, until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 15 additional minutes. 

  2. Slice top and bottom from orange, cutting through the peel and pith to reveal the fruit. Working top to bottom, slice the peel and pith from the sides of the orange. Cube orange, discarding the centre pith and any seeds. Combine lime juice, orange juice, oil and dried chiles in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Whisk to blend. Reserve orange cubes. 

  3. Spread rice onto a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle the juice dressing over the rice, stirring to coat. Season with additional salt if required. Divide rice among four plastic lunch containers. 

  4. Top each container with cut up mangoes, cilantro leaves, jalapenos, cucumber and roasted beets and sliced beet leaves if using. Drizzle evenly with peanut sauce.

  5. Wrap peanuts in plastic wrap or wax paper. Pack separately and sprinkle onto salad immediately before eating, to ensure they remain crunchy.

Filed Under: Pleb Feasts, Recipe Tagged With: Black Rice, Cilantro, cucumber, Forbidden Rice, Mango, orange, peanut sauce, peanuts, pleb feast

Pleb Feasts: Apple Celery Tuna Salad Sandwhich

April 8, 2017 By Caroline 1 Comment

sandwich elements being assembled

In my never-ending search for better lunches to bring to the office, I bring you “Pleb Feasts”. It’s all too easy to be lured in by the foodcourts and unhealthy dining options available for purchase when buying lunch. On the other hand, making lunches takes time and planning, and I don’t want to compromise on flavour or freshness by eating something made in advance. What’s a common office pleb like myself to do? I’ve been working on some creative solutions. This sandwich is super easy and doesn’t take a lot of time. I’ve also included tips on how I like to wrap mine up for maximum freshness the next day.

I’ve combined a favourite of mine—crisp apple celery salad, with tuna and light rye bread for these sandwiches. Parsley is a hardy herb that doesn’t get soggy; here it replaces your typical lettuce leaves to brighten up the tuna (and protect the bread from getting soggy).

I experimented with apples on one half, sliced cucumber on the other. Apples won for me hands down, but you could make these with cucumbers as an option to change things up a bit.

Assembling the sandwiches

A note on the packaging. I find wax paper is the best wrap for sandwiches—enough protection to avoid drying the bread out, but not a tight seal like plastic where things start to get soggy. Roll out a piece of wax paper, build your sandwich on top, wrap it up, throw in a fruit snack and lunch is done!

sandwich assembly in progress
Print

Apple Celery Tuna Salad Sandwhich

A perfect lunch to take to work—quick and easy to make, and stays fresh.

Course Lunch
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Servings 2 sandwiches

Ingredients

  • 1 can solid white tuna packed in water
  • 3 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • pinch salt
  • freshly ground pepper to taste
  • 1 celery stalk
  • 1/2 apple Gala or Empire, cored and sliced thin
  • 1 bunch fresh curly parsley roughly chopped
  • 4 slices light rye bread
  • 1/4 seedless cucumber (optional)

Instructions

  1. Drain water from tuna in can, place tuna chunks on a paper towel and pat away excess moisture. Place into a medium size bowl and break apart with a fork.

  2. Chop celery into 1/8" size pieces, and add to tuna with 1.5 tbsp mayo, lemon juice and salt to taste. Combine well.

  3. Place a wax paper sheet on counter top for each sandwich, and set out 2 slices of bread on each sheet. Cut slices in half and spread one side of each with the remaining mayo. Season bread slices with extra fresh ground pepper for extra kick if desired. Layer fresh parsley on half of the slices, and divide tuna mixture on top, patting tuna down to create a flat surface. Layer apple slices on top of tuna (or cucumber if preferred). Top with remaining slices and wrap each sandwich in its wax paper sheet.

Filed Under: Pleb Feasts, Recipe Tagged With: apple, cucumber, lunch, pleb feast, sandwich, tuna

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to my kitchen journal, a place where I will share my favourite heritage recipes honed over the years, as well as document new evolutions and experiments along the way. Great feasts become vehicles for fond memories—the best meals are the ones someone made with love, for you. Follow me to explore traditions, document stories and experience the joy of the feast. Read More…

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Don’t miss a story!

Get email updates

Copyright © 2023