When we lived in Alexandria, my favorite dining out spot was the Whole Foods salad bar. Fancy, right? But seriously, I loved it. I got so excited about filling up that cardboard box with as many (lightweight) items as possible, and trying a few bites each of the many many delicious options. My favorites? The grain salads. They were always so tasty, but also seemed too laborious to actually make in my own kitchen.
Turns out that’s not actually true.
Grain salads have become some of my favorite dishes to make. They are excellent for dinners, and even better for lunches the next day. This one has a great mix of spice and sweetness!
Spiced Brown Rice & Cabbage Salad
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients (4 servings)
- 2 cups dry brown rice
- 4 cups water
- 1.5 cups shredded red cabbage
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/4 cup dried currants
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1.5 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
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Start by cooking brown rice in a rice cooker or on the stove. Cook 2 cups brown rice with 4 cups water, and fluff when finished.
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While the rice cooks, thinly shred the cabbage with a knife or mandolin. Chop into small shreds!
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Once the rice has cooked and cooled slightly, add to a large mixing bowl with the cabbage.
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Add pine nuts, currants, spices, and olive oil, and mix to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and dig in!
Currants and pine nuts are two things I don’t usually have on hand in my house, but after tasting this salad I might need to change that. Of course if you don’t have those, you can use raisins and whatever nuts you might have on hand.
I may not live around the corner from the Whole Foods salad bar anymore, but there is no reason why I can’t have delicious grain salads waiting in my fridge for me at lunchtime.
Enjoy!
40 Comments so far
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Haha, light weight is definitely key when it comes to the Whole Foods salad bar.
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I love the lighting and coloring of your photos! Recipe looks delish, I will have to try it soon!
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I like the serving bowl! it makes the rice look really fancy.*
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YUMMY! Seriously, what a great flavor combination! I get bummed that Whole Foods is just far enough away from us to be inconvenient, but I think my wallet is happy about it.
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I sometimes take photos of the ingredients list of Whole Food salad at the salad bar in the quest to recreate them ;-) often works quite well…. :-)
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This sounds SO similar to a rice pudding I made in the (fifth?) grade, which was clearly Native American ahah but it was SO amazing, just didn’t have cabbage.
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What an awesome way to save money instead of buying it at whole foods…I bet it tastes fresher, too!
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Melissa @ HerGreenLife Reply:
December 7th, 2011 at 6:58 am
With the exception of the pine nuts, the ingredients in this dish are very affordable. I imagine this 4-serving recipe made at home costs about the same, or less, as one serving from WF!
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How very tasty indeed!
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I agree, I love the grain salads at Whole Foods but they usually involve ingredients that I don’t keep around the apartment so I never make them. I will definitely have to try this recipe though, it looks so tasty!
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I just got my whole foods salad bar fix this week when we were in Florida. The closest one to us at home is 70 miles away :(
I love the pop of color from the cabbage in this!
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I feel the SAME way about WFs :)
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I’d never thought about combining rice and red cabbage but this looks really tasty and is perfect for the winter months.
Just one question: You only use olive oil for the dressing – isn’t the salad going to become to dry without adding more fluid?
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That looks delicious! Although I hate dried fruit in my grain salads, so I’ll leave that out. :)
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That looks delicious, especially since I love brown rice & red cabbage. :) I don’t know what type of brown rice you used, but I think it will be delicious with short grain!
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Curious you say that you eat around 1500 calories a day mainly vegetarian diet with a little yogurt & cheese? From what I’ve read did this change while you were pregnant? Did you eat more? Did you crave dairy? And did you eat it? Sorry I know your busy with Cullen but I’d love to know. I also eat like this and I just found out I’m pregnant. Would love to know…
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I really miss the Whole Foods salad bar too, as there isn’t a Whole Foods store anywhere near me. I think they have opened one store in London now, but that is two hours away! I always have to get my fill of Whole Foods when I go home to visit my family. In the meantime, I will definitely try this salad!
~Emily~
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I miss the Whole Foods food bar in Alexandria too! We try to go there whenever we get back there, but in the meantime, I’m loving your recipes. I’m excited to try this one after I make your kale tofu salad recipe for dinner tonight!
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I’m with you and ALWAYS look forward to the WF salad bar and a little scoop of everything- my husband sometimes can’t look at my mix because it’s a bit too much for him to see me mixing all those flavors! :)
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I visited the DC area over the summer and stayed at a hotel in Alexandria. I seriously ate 90% of my meals at that Whole Foods salad bar, simply because it was so good! If only the Whole Foods’ salad bar near me had so many options…
Your brown rice and cabbage salad sounds awesome!
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What a wonderful salad! I love the simplicity of it!
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I live in DC, but this past weekend was my very first trip to Old Town! My friend and I thought about you and Casey bopping around there and were sad there was no chance for a celebrity spotting :). What a cute area, though! Can’t wait to get back.
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I have a WF and those awesome salad bars a short 10-minute walk from my home. But I always want to load up on heavy stuff, so it’s so much cheaper to just make at home! :) This looks great – I recently watched Forks Over Knives and am making the switch to a mostly (95%) vegan diet. I’ll be adding this to my new stack of recipes to try out.
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Grain salads are one of my favorite things!! Keep the recipes coming, please!
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I have already been contemplating my vegan Christmas menu and this will go perfectly with what I had planned. I have never used currants before (and not sure if I have even tried them) but it will be a nice break from raisins and dried cranberries that have been invading my meals so far this season!
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I had something similar to that the other day, from the Whole Food’s salad bar. Set me back a few buckaroo’s.
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Emily, the Whole Foods bar was a lifesaver during grad school. I was working full time and getting my MBA at night. The free WiFi in WF and those cardboard boxes of delicious, fresh, organic food was just amazing before class. Just what I needed to make it through each night’s lecture until 9:30pm.
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Looks amazing! I’m adding this to my list to make. Mmmmm
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Yum! That looks so good. I love how the turmeric and other spices added a beautiful color to the brown rice. Very unique spices and add ins, but sounds lovely! Thanks for sharing Emily!
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i love the whole foods salad bar, there are way too many amazing choices that my salad usually costs $10 but its worth it:)
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I’ve been enjoying making grain salads ever since my Cafe Gratitude experience in San Francisco. They are so easy, delicious, and filling!! :)
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Grain salads are my favorite thing to make for lunch! I will definitely try this!
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I’m glad to hear that this will taste delicious the day after! I love making big batches of grains/rice and eating some for the week. Thanks for this recipe!
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looks easy and simple to me! I’ll have to send this to my mom, she just bought a bunch of brown rice to cook!
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I can tell I’m going to like this combination. Thank you!
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Yum! This looks absolutely delicious. I’m going to have to try it very soon.
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I love having grain salads for lunch, too. I’ve forgotten about them lately, so thanks for the reminder! This one looks great.
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Love grain salads…always my first choice! This one looks and sounds amazing! I love all the spices and the red cabbage gives a nice colour and added crunch factor. I might even switch up the brown rice for quinoa as I am on a huge quinoa salad kick right now!
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Look at the light bounce off the pink….love it!
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