Brown Rice Salad with Tahini Soy Dressing
Perfectly cooked brown rice tossed with cucumbers, cabbage, lots of crunch, and a quick tahini and soy dressing!
Ingredients
Tahini Soy Dressing
- 1/2 clove garlic , grated on microplane
- 1 1/2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 1 1/2 tsp lime juice
- 1/2 tsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp honey or agave
- kosher salt
Rice Salad
- 2/3 cup brown rice
- 1 Persian cucumber , julienned (thin sticks)
- 1/2 cup chopped red cabbage
- 1/3 cup roasted, unsalted cashews
- 1/4 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts
- 2 tbsp black and white sesame seeds
- 2 tbsp picked cilantro leaves
- lime wedges , for serving
- kosher salt
Instructions
Tahini Soy Dressing
- Whisk all dressing ingredients together until homogenous and set aside.
Rice Salad
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add brown rice and cook (like pasta) until cooked through. This can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 25 minutes depending on the brand and kind of brown rice. The beauty is that you can check the doneness of the rice without disturbing the cooking process.
- Once the rice is cooked through, drain into a fine mesh strainer and rinse with cold water.
- Drain as much of the water out as possible then add the rice to a large bowl.
- Add the cucumber, cabbage, cashews, peanuts, sesame seeds, and cilantro leaves to the bowl. Dress the salad with all the dressing and toss to combine.
- Serve with a squeeze of lime. Enjoy!
Notes
This method of boiling rice is not traditional but perfect for getting perfectly cooked rice. It's especially wonderful because you can pick out individual grains and test the doneness of brown rice which can be tough to cook otherwise.
Dress this salad right before serving but both dressing and salad can be prepped ahead of time.