Bamboo Rice Salad with Avocado & Grapes

The rice is cooked in exactly the right amount of water so none of the color goes down the drain with the excess liquid. It cools while the fruit and vegetables are cut, everything kept with its skin on where possible, the apple and cucumber contributing both color and texture that peeled versions would not. A simple vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and cilantro is all the dressing this salad needs; the variety of flavors from the fruit and vegetables does not need anything stronger covering it.

A few apple slices are held back and tucked into the top of the assembled salad for a red color effect rather than mixed in, which is the small finishing step that makes the bowl look composed rather than tossed. This is a vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free salad for two, ready in under twenty-five minutes, and one of the more visually distinctive bowls on the blog.

A Few Things Worth Knowing

Bamboo rice gets its color from bamboo extract added during processing; unlike green-dyed rice, the color is absorbed into the grain itself and doesn’t bleed into everything around it when the rice cools, which is what makes it work in a salad. Cooking it in exactly the right amount of water preserves the color that would otherwise go down the drain with the cooking liquid. Everything else in the bowl, avocado, cucumber, green grapes is chosen to stay within the same green palette, which means the monochromatic effect is complete and intentional rather than accidental. The red apple slices tucked in at the finish are the single deliberate break in the palette, which is what makes them effective rather than just incidental.

_{This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.}

Key Ingredients in This Recipe

You’ll find the complete list of ingredients and exact quantities in the recipe below.

FOR THE SALAD

• Bamboo rice
• English cucumber
• Avocado
• Apple – a red apple with skin on is nice for a color contrast.
• Green grapes

FOR THE VINAIGRETTE

• Lemon juice
• Olive oil
• Cilantro

How to Make Bamboo Rice Salad with Avocado & Grapes

Don't Miss a Single Great Recipe!

First Name:

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human:

Mix the vinaigrette with the salad and divide over 2 plates. Tuck a few slices of apple into the salad, so the red skin gives a nice color contrasting effect. Garnish with a few sprigs of cilantro.

Storage Note

This salad is best eaten the day it’s made, primarily because of the avocado; it begins to discolor within a few hours even with the lemon juice in the dressing. If you want to prep ahead, keep the avocado separate and add it just before serving. The rice, fruit, and vegetables without the avocado will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for two to three days.

Alternatives & Substitutes

• If you can’t find Bamboo rice, you can use any other rice, but it will change the flavor of the salad. Bamboo has a subtle herbaceous flavor and that beautiful green color that no other rice has. Some options are black rice, making it visually dramatic, jasmine rice would be a neutral swap, brown rice would add fiber and sushi rice, with its stickier texture, would bind the salad into something closer to a rice bowl than a loose salad.
• You can add more green vegetables if you like, like green bell pepper, green peas or celery.
• Parsley is an appropriate alternative to the cilantro.

Other Salads for You to Try