Black rice, mango and tomato salad recipe

Diana Henry
·2 min read
Black rice, mango and tomato  - Laura Edwards
Black rice, mango and tomato - Laura Edwards

A fresh sweet-sour Asian-inspired salad. If you don’t have black rice – though you can find it online – use brown rice, or a mixture of brown and wild rice. You can now buy little packets of coconut flesh in the supermarket. You can also use dried coconut shavings – the unsweetened ones – instead.

Prep time: 15 minutes | Prep time: 45 minutes

SERVES

Eight

INGREDIENTS

  • 300g nero venere (black venus) rice

  • 1 mango, either just ripe or slightly under-ripe

  • 100g sugar snap peas

  • Leaves from 10 sprigs of mint

  • 15g basil leaves, stems discarded

  • 40g fresh coconut flesh, cut into chunks

  • 200g well-flavoured tomatoes, chopped

  • 2 red and 1 green chilli, halved, deseeded and finely shredded

  • 2 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped

  • 30g roasted, salted peanuts, very roughly chopped

For the dressing

  • juice and zest of 2 limes

  • 1 clove garlic, grated

  • 2cm piece ginger root, peeled and grated

  • 2 tbsp groundnut oil

  • 1½ tbsp fish sauce

  • 2½ tbsp caster sugar

METHOD

  1. Put the rice in a saucepan with plenty of water, bring to the boil then turn down to a vigorous simmer. Cook until tender, though bear in mind that this rice retains a good bite and will not become soft. It takes about 45 minutes. Drain well and rinse under cold running water until the water runs completely clear.

  2. Peel the mango and slice the flesh from the stone. Cut close to the stone so you remove the plumpest possible bit of the mango (the cheeks). Cut the firm flesh into small chunks (you can put aside any soft or bruised flesh for a smoothie).

  3. Halve the sugar snaps along their length so that you can see the peas peeking out.

  4. Tear the mint and basil, leaving small leaves intact. Shave or very finely slice the coconut chunks (laborious but worth it).

  5. To make the dressing, just mix everything together. It will taste quite tart – despite the sugar – but you are going to mix it with other sweet ingredients so the balance will be fine.

  6. Combine the dressing with all the ingredients except the peanuts and coconut (or you can serve it on the side if you prefer).

  7. Spoon the salad into broad, shallow bowls. Top with the peanuts and coconut, then serve immediately.