Black rice and salmon salad
Strictly speaking, this salad isn’t traditionally Scandinavian, but we used to make and serve this in the café in London simply because it is SO nice. Black rice lends itself well to being used cold in salads. It is known sometimes as ‘forbidden rice’, and sometimes as ‘black Venus rice’. It has a hard husk and a great bite to it – and, of course, a wonderful dark colour.
Serves 4 individual portions or 6–7 as a side dish
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 200 grams uncooked black rice
- 1 cucumber
- 1 green apple
- 1 shallot finely chopped
- squeeze of lemon juice
- 1 bunch of fresh dill chopped
- 2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon freshly chopped mint
- 150 grams hot-smoked salmon
DRESSING
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 4 tablespoons good quality olive or rapeseed oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice (plus extra as needed)
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Rinse the black rice a few times, then bring to the boil in a large pan of water. Cook until al dente following the packet instructions. Once cooked, rinse well to remove the excess colour. Set aside to cool.
- Slice the cucumber lengthways, then scrape out the seeds and chop into 1/2 cm pieces. Chop the apple into similarly sized pieces. Add the cucumber, apple and shallot to a serving bowl with a squeeze of lemon juice to keep the apple fresh. Add the cooked and cooled black rice, dill, parsley and mint. Flake in the salmon pieces and mix gently to combine everything together.
- Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and season to taste. Pour the dressing over the salad and stir. Do adjust the seasoning once you have done this – it may need more lemon juice or even a squeeze of lime (this depends on the saltiness of the fish and the sweetness of the apple you have used).
Notes
From the book ScandiKitchen Midsommer by Bronte Aurell, photo by Pete Cassidy. Book available on Amazon or ScandiKitchen.
