Orzo Salad with Imitation Crab

What a delicious idea! This orzo salad is like a deconstructed California roll..minus the Nori! It can be eaten warm or cold & makes a good side dish or a stand-alone dish as well…I liked it the next day for dinner.   I made this when we had company over & everyone really enjoyed it.

Orzo, artificial crab, avocado, cucumber & seasonings all add up to make this salad really delicious. This recipe makes a large amount of salad which is great so there are left-overs for several days! I made a few changes to the original recipe,

(You can substitute real crab if you like of course!!)

The recipe is from the Chatelaine Magazine

Here is the recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of dry orzo pasta

Dressing

1 lime…. you need 2 tbsp lime juice

2 tbsp fish sauce…*** I substituted Worsteshire sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp ginger, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp hot red-chili flakes

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1 English cucumber

1 green onion

1 avocado

1 227g pkg of imitation crab

1 tbsp sesame seeds *** I did not add the sesame seeds due to an allergy

Method 

1. Cook the orzo… salt a pot of water, bring it to a boil, add the orzo & stir to separate them. Boil, stirring occasionally,  until they are cooked to your liking… al dente or more…approx 7 minutes
2. Drain the orzo but DO NOT RINSE
3. Put the drained orzo into a large bowl
4. Make the dressing…Mix 2 tbsp lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, garlic & chilli flakes together in a bowl .
5. Pour the dressing over the orzo & toss together to coat all of the orzo & set aside
6. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds & discard them. Slice the cucumber thinly & add to the orzo
7. Thinly slice the green onion & add to the orzo
8. Cut the avocado in thin slices & add to the orzo
9. Take the imitation crab out of the package & chop coarsely….add this to the orzo
10. Mix everything together
11. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds
12. This can be served either warm or cold… Keeps for 1 day in the refrigerator…but we kept ours a couple days longer…