Rice Salad with Falafel & Orange
Falafel in a soy-ginger dressing. Not the combination you saw coming, but one that earns the second bite.
Crispy chickpea balls sit on cooled brown rice tossed with edamame, bell pepper, and fresh orange segments. The dressing is built on pressed garlic, chopped ginger, lemon, honey, and soy sauce. Sharp, sweet, and a little unexpected.
884 kcal and 16g of fiber from brown rice, two legumes, and a whole orange. Ready in twenty minutes.
Falafel in a soy-ginger dressing. Not the combination you saw coming, but one that earns the second bite.
Crispy chickpea balls sit on cooled brown rice tossed with edamame, bell pepper, and fresh orange segments. The dressing is built on pressed garlic, chopped ginger, lemon, honey, and soy sauce. Sharp, sweet, and a little unexpected.
884 kcal and 16g of fiber from brown rice, two legumes, and a whole orange. Ready in twenty minutes.
Ingredients
- brown rice 3 ounces
- edamame 3 ounces
- bell pepper 1
- orange 1
- garlic 1 clove
- ginger 1 slice
- olive oil 1.5 tablespoon
- falafel 5
- lemon juice 1 squeeze
- honey 1 teaspoon
- soy sauce 0.5 tablespoon
Method
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Cook the rice according to the instructions on the package.
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Meanwhile, rinse the edamame beans in a colander with cold water and let them drain.
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Cut the bell pepper into cubes. Peel the orange and separate the segments. Mix the beans with bell pepper and orange in a large bowl.
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Press the garlic clove and finely chop the ginger slice. Set this aside.
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Heat half of the oil in a frying pan and fry the falafel until golden brown, about 3 minutes.
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Meanwhile, in a small bowl, make a dressing from the other half of the oil, the lemon juice, honey, soy sauce, garlic and ginger.
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Let the rice cool off a bit and then scoop it into the bowl with vegetables and orange. Pour the dressing over and toss everything together. Season with pepper to taste.
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Serve the rice salad in a deep plate and add the falafel balls.
The falafel goes on top at the very end. Toss it with the dressing and it turns soft within minutes. Keep it on the rice and the crust stays.
Why This Works
Behind this recipe
Can I use white rice instead of brown?
Yes. White rice cooks faster and works fine here. Brown rice adds more fiber. This bowl gets 16g partly from the grain, and a nuttier texture that holds up better under dressing. If you swap, cut the cook time and expect a softer salad.
Does the raw garlic in the dressing do anything beyond flavor?
Raw garlic contains sulfur compounds that research linked to higher iron uptake from legumes, up to 73% more in controlled conditions. This bowl pairs two legume iron sources, edamame and falafel, with a pressed-garlic dressing. Pressing the clove rather than slicing releases more of those active compounds than cutting alone.
Why does the recipe say to let the rice cool?
Partly texture: warm rice turns mushy when dressed. But cooling also triggers a process where starch molecules fold into tighter structures your body digests more slowly. A 2015 clinical trial found rice cooled for 24 hours formed 2.5 times more resistant starch and produced an 18% lower blood sugar response. A brief cool-down on the counter gets the beginning of the effect, not the full conversion.
