This high raw rice salad is satisfying, delicious and oh so nutritious!
What on earth is a “high raw” salad anyway? Well, high raw basically means “mostly raw”.
In other words a high percentage of the ingredients are raw, so you know you’re eating as much raw food as possible.
This particular high raw rice salad was created after I read “The Starch Solution” by Dr John McDougall.
His approach to healthy eating involves eating as much low-fat, high-carbohydrate (starchy), vegan food as you like, and there are plenty of people who’ve lost heaps of weight and, more importantly, healed all kinds of illnesses and medical conditions by following his guidelines.
So when were looking for ways recently to increase our calories without adding more fat to our diet, this was one of the ideas we tried.
Doesn’t it look amazing?
A filling, nutritious meal based around cooked carbohydrates, in this case rice.
But still being huge fans of raw food, we adapted McDougall’s approach, by including as many raw ingredients as possible alongside the cooked starches.
And so this high raw rice salad was born. Packed full of raw veggies.
Apart from the seasonings, the only cooked ingredient is the rice.
Everything else is raw and bursting with flavour and nutrition.
In fact, by the time you add this many raw veggies to the rice, the rice is almost outnumbered.
And the tamari, salt and hemp seeds just take the incredible flavours up a notch further.
If you’re not so keen on the salty taste, you can just use my amazing raw tomato ketchup/sauce to dress the salad instead, which makes for an equally delicious combination.
And the cooked starches make this high raw rice salad incredibly satisfying as well.
So if you eat as much of it as you want, you’ll fill up on rice before you fill up on fat.
And what’s even better is that the only fat in this recipe comes from the avocado and the hemp seeds, two awesome wholefood sources of healthy fats.
Of course, like most salads, this recipe is also incredibly flexible.
You can adjust the amounts of any and all of the ingredients to make it just the way you like it, although I do recommend stuffing as many raw veggies in it as you can.
And not just because it’s good for you either. The veggies make it taste better. Honestly.
So this is a perfect recipe if you’re trying to increase the amount of raw foods in your diet.
You can use it to transition into eating more and more raw foods, by using the rice as a base for your favourite raw ingredients.
And you can take this high raw rice salad to your next potluck or function, confident that there’s something healthy and delicious for you to fill up on.
And you’ll be proud to share it with everyone, because healthy or not, it really does taste absolutely fantastic!
High Raw Rice Salad
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup brown rice or white rice (150g, dry weight)
- 3 med mushrooms , sliced (30g)
- 1/2 cup baby spinach , thinly sliced (30g)
- 1/8 med red capsicum / bell pepper , diced (30g)
- 1 med tomato , cubed (100g)
- 3/4 med avocado , diced (85g)
- 4 tsp hemp seeds / hearts (13g)
- 4 tsp tamari or raw tomato ketchup
- 1/4 tsp salt
Method
- Cook the rice according to the directions on the packet OR use your preferred method OR follow my directions below for cooking brown rice using the absorption method.
Cooking brown rice
- Soak the rice in plenty of water for 1 hour.
- Drain and rinse the rice.
- Add 2 cups water for every 1 cup of rice (before soaking), and bring it to the boil.
- Simmer on the lowest possible heat for 40 minutes.
- Turn the heat off and allow it to sit for 15 mins to absorb any remaining water.
Assemble the salad
- Prepare the vegetables.
- Put the cooked rice into a bowl and add salt, mushrooms and tamari and mix thoroughly.
- Add the rest of the veggies, mix and serve.
- Can be served warm or cold.
- Store in the refrigerator. Keeps for up to 3 days.
Preparation
- Before: 1 hour to soak rice (optional)
- During: 15 minutes (white rice) to 40 minutes (brown rice) to cook rice
- After: -
- Need: Stove
Nutrition Information
Tips
- I wasn’t a big fan of brown rice previously, because when used to I cook it, it always came out chewy. But then I read this article at Pinch My Salt on how to cook perfect brown rice, and I finally managed to cook brown rice that I love. And now the kids won’t eat anything else! Gotta love it.
- The amounts of the vegetables really are just guidelines. Add as much or as little of each of them as you like. Make it yours.
- You can reduce the amount of fat in this high raw rice salad, if you want to, by using less of the avocado and hemp seeds.
- If you’re not a big fan of salty tastes, swap the tamari for some of my raw tomato sauce (ketchup). This is actually my preferred version of this dish. It also adds even more raw food to the salad!
- I prefer to cook with pink Himalayan salt because it contains heaps of trace minerals. So if I’m going to use salt in my dishes, I might as well use one that’s good for me.
My inspiration
This recipe basically emerged from the ideas in the book, The Starch Solution by Dr John McDougall.
I love exploring other healthy ways of eating, and I borrow ideas from other successful ways of eating whenever I can. And of course I experiment.
I still think the key to optimal eating is a wholefood plant-based diet, and this high raw rice salad is a great example of that.
Want to explore Dr McDougall’s ideas further?
[book_starchsoln_intro] [book_starch_solution]
Enjoy feeling satisfied, while knowing that you’re doing your body good.
And have a delicious day!
2 comments
Janis
Hi…great recipe. I’m also going to try it with Emmer (Farro).
Nikki
Mmmm, sounds delicious.