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
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
- 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
- Drain the orzo but DO NOT RINSE
- Put the drained orzo into a large bowl
- Make the dressing…Mix 2 tbsp lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, garlic & chilli flakes together in a bowl .
- Pour the dressing over the orzo & toss together to coat all of the orzo & set aside
- Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds & discard them. Slice the cucumber thinly & add to the orzo
- Thinly slice the green onion & add to the orzo
- Cut the avocado in thin slices & add to the orzo
- Take the imitation crab out of the package & chop coarsely….add this to the orzo
- Mix everything together
- Sprinkle with the sesame seeds
- This can be served either warm or cold… Keeps for 1 day in the refrigerator…but we kept ours a couple days longer…


I love the texture of orzo! This looks tasty indeed!
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