Forbidden Rice Salad With Pickled Vegetables

I’m leaving on a jet plane today. And I’m so excited I can barely control myself.

My friend from college decided to have her bachelorette in Ibiza. Now, I recognize that this is a fairly ridiculous thing to do. But there was also no way I was going to miss it. Since I haven’t had a solo adventure in a while – something that I often do as a healthy mental reprogramming–I decided to skip town a few weeks early and take myself on a little tour of the Basque region. The theme of my summer is to embrace my youth. If you thought I was already doing that, buckle up.

San Sebastian has become quite the food Mecca over the last 5 years. So I’m going to be based there for a week, and eat my way around the surrounding regions… as long as I can make friends with someone who can drive stick shift. I plan on having added a lot more jamon to my bones by the time I reach the island of champagne beach parties and Band-Aid dresses. But I’m hoping my American charm makes up for that.

I’ll be instagraming the shiz out of my adventure, but other than that, I’m going to try and unplug for a little while. It’s the downside of being a food blogger – having to be connected all the time. So forgive me my delayed comment responses and pre-scheduled tweets. I’ll be back at the end of the month, and will shower you with all the attention you deserve then.

In the meantime, I’ll be updating you on my whereabouts via the newsletter. And I still have some great recipes on the books, including this rice salad. I’ve been trying to experiment with new gluten-free ingredients – kelp and mung bean noodles, coconut flour, and most recently forbidden rice.

I’ve weirdly never cooked with black rice before, but after this dish, it’s going to become my new go-to. It cooks in half the time of brown rice, and is perhaps even more nutritious. It holds it’s shape incredibly well, which makes it a perfect candidate for a rice salad. Since I think of black rice as more of an Asian ingredient, I decided to quick pickle some carrots and radishes in rice wine vinegar to go with it. The veggies themselves become the dressing, and really all you need is a handful of herbs to round out the color palette.

I’ll be taking a Pintxos cooking class tomorrow (basically the Basque equivalent of tapas) through San Sebastion Food. You can bet your buns I’ll be taking many mental notes for you all. I hope you’ll try out a few new ingredients this summer, if not forbidden rice, then perhaps one of the specialty Spanish items that is likely to make its way into my suitcase and become an object of obsession for weeks to come.

Hasta luego!

Xo
Phoebe

Forbidden Rice Salad With Pickled Vegetables

No ratings yet

print recipe

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Phoebe Lapine

Ingredients

• 1 cup forbidden rice
• 1/2 pound carrots preferably multi-color, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 bunch radishes trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons snipped chives plus more for garnish

Instructions

• In a medium lidded saucepan, combine the rice with 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to boil, turn the heat down to low, and cover. Cook for 20 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
• Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, toss the carrots and radishes together with the vinegar and salt. Let sit in the mixture, stirring occasionally, until the rice is cooked, about 15 minutes.
• Add the rice to the vegetables along with the chives and olive oil. Toss to combine. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with additional chives.

Nutrition

Serving: 4g

If you make this, tag @phoebelapine and #feedmephoebe - I'd love to see it!