This creamy quinoa black rice salad with peas is simple to prepare and nutritious. An easy vegan and gluten free side dish for spring!
This recipe—a creamy black rice & quinoa spring salad with peas—is similar to last week’s lentil dip in that it was unplanned. This is the advantage of being less organized than usual with meal planning: you don’t have a plan and you don’t have as much prepared food in the fridge as you might like, but you do come up with a lot of spur-of-the-moment creations. And at least some of those are bound to be happy surprises.
Some time ago, the folks at Rebirth Rice offered to send me some samples of their heirloom black rice. I gladly accepted. I don’t make black rice often, but I was super impressed with the rice’s rich and nutty flavor, and I was excited to keep playing around with it.
This week, in an ongoing effort to keep using up everything in my pantry, I got to thinking about a grain salad or pilaf I could make with the rice. I did a little Googling for inspiration, and I found this recipe on Epicurious. I haven’t been making a lot of grain dishes with two grains lately—time is short enough that cooking grains separately and then throwing them together feels like a needless extra step. At the same time, I know how rewarding it can be to combine two grains for texture contrast, and the pairing of fluffy quinoa and chew rice sounded pretty great.
I went for it, and this is what I came up with. I added two of my favorite spring veggies, green peas and radishes, along with sliced carrots because I had some that needed using. That pantry-clearing project has also encouraged me to use up nuts and seeds before they’re past prime (hence pumpkin seeds in last week’s dip), so I decided to make a creamy, nut based dressing in place of a vinaigrette. I used cashews, but walnuts, pine nuts, or sunflower seeds will work, too. I’ve always liked light, sherry vinaigrettes and dressings with spring produce, so I kept to that theme.
The result? A dish that’s full of texture, pretty to look at, and nutritious. I initially served it with sautéed greens, but I used up the leftovers by the scoop in bowls, pairing them with baked tofu, adzuki beans, and more. This would be a nice side dish for this time of year, or the base of a meal if you help yourself to a nice portion.
I added herbs to the recipe because I’m nearly positive they’d be a lovely addition, though in fairness my fridge wasn’t well-stocked enough for me to include any of my own. Next time, dill.
This was definitely a reminder that sometimes one little, extra step—like combining two whole grains instead of one—can make a dish that much better and more rewarding. I’m happy to have tried something new, even though my culinary inspiration has been pretty low. And if you try it, hope you’ll be happy with it, too.
“See you” on Sunday!
xo
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This salad looks so beautiful. The purple color makes it very unique and I’m sure it’s delicious ike it looks like. Probaboly going to try this in the next few days. As a vegeterian I love to make new salads with my vegetable slicer and this salad is one of the next new salads I’m going to make. Thank you for this.
love the sherry vineager topping
Great dish! As a guy who just turned vegan two months ago, I really feel I enjoy these kind of blog posts as inspiration . Did you never feel that it was hard to come up with something new and exciting for dinner every day..:? =/
I, too, have been throwing meal planning out the window due to various life road blocks and routine busters, not the least of which was almost having to find a new apartment and move on short notice. Everything’s fine, I am staying, but my mid-month week of uncertainty sent me into panic mode and trying to eat everything in my fridge and freezer. I found joy in the simplest and strangest of meals that I never would prepare otherwise, including a saute of caramelized onions, corn, scallions, leftover brown rice, soy sauce, nori (a few sheets stacked together and cut into strips, then snipped into squares), and topped with a “sauce” of nothing more than good tahini and a sprinkle of maldon salt.
Quick, nourishing, delicious! And in the future, when I return to it as a fast weeknight meal, I hope that I can enjoy it without a side of stress!
Gena,
I have been learning how to cook two grains together recently. Your dish looks super! And I love the idea of using up what is on hand. I can’t always run to the store so making do and being creative appeals to me. The combo looks great!
Happy Friday! Thank you again:)
Libby
Hi Gena–very creative combo! I love black rice but I’ve never though about pairing it with quinoa–intrigued–some of my favorite spring veggies are green onions, so I would definitely add those. Thanks! xo
Wow. Looks delicious,
well this is something more than a black rice, since it looks more colorful and cool.
I am looking for these types of food for a healthy living. thanks!
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